


Red Salt

by GerdavR



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Beginnings, Character Death, Dark fic, F/M, Fluff and Angst, GingerRoseWeek2020, I'm Sorry, Implied Friendship, hux is Trying His Best, rose is badass
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-11
Updated: 2020-05-12
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:28:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 22,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24128959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GerdavR/pseuds/GerdavR
Summary: After the First Order has captured the rebels on Crait, an earthquake causes the rebel base to collapse. Hux and Rose are trapped with children in an underground labyrinth - can they escape? (Written for Gingerroseweek 2020 - 'Survivor')
Relationships: Armitage Hux & Rose Tico, Armitage Hux/Rose Tico
Comments: 57
Kudos: 78
Collections: GingerRoseWeek2020





	1. Into the Darkness

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks to my beta Britinthewoods!

The air carried the scent of salt when Hux stepped out of the command shuttle; the sun beam reflected by the thin layer of salt on the ground made him squint. A mild, warm wind made the tails of his greatcoat flutter slightly.

With the back of his gloved hand he wiped over his mouth and pulled the corners of his mouth down. He caught a whiff of oil, hot metal, and molten iron emanating from the Resistance Base in front of him, or rather from the destruction of its blast doors.

Any other day Hux would have allowed himself a satisfied smirk, seeing the power of the KY-cannon first hand, seeing meters of reinforced steel peeled away by the weapon he had designed… but the dull pain in his back spoiled his victory.

He started to walk, the sound of salt being crushed under his black heel accompanying him through his way to the mouth of the gaping hole in front of him. A squadron of Stormtroopers followed him inside, an army of white clad Stormtroopers with him as its black center crossed the threshold in the fortress… or base or whatever the Rebel Scum called this structure.

From the corner of his eye he noticed how dust was falling from the ceiling as he stepped from the blinding light into the dimly lit base. He slowed his step and took in the sight in front of him: hundreds of Rebels kneeling on the floor, their hands folded behind their heads.

Most of them were covered in dirt, blood and a thin crust of salt. The air no longer smelt of salt and oil but of sweat and blood.

Hux tugged at his glove and registered that the Rebels stared defiantly at him; he almost scoffed. Even now they thought they could get away - and perhaps they would have succeeded if Ren had his way.

Thinking of Ren… he turned to the Stormtrooper Captain next to him. “Where is Supreme Leader Ren?”

Having to say these three words almost made him grimace, but as always he remained professional and his tone was even.

“Besh Command reports that he was last seen heading deeper into the Rebel base in pursuit of Luke Skywalker, sir.”

“Instruct Besh to go after him,” replied Hux. If he had any luck Skywalker would finish him off - Ren was a fool, the Order needed stability, not temper tantrums. A slight rumble could be heard deep under his feet and for a moment Hux felt dizzy, the image of a bright red beam shooting into the sky resurfacing before his inner eye.

He pulled himself together and frowned. “The preliminary reports on Crait didn’t mention earthquakes.”

“No, sir.”

Hux pulled out his portable holo and activated it. With a quiet hum the device started to hover as Lieutenant Mitaka’s figure appeared. “Sir.”

“I need an analysis of the planets teutonic structure; we are experiencing tremors.” He paused. “The Supreme Leader is somewhere in the structure.”

Mitaka clicked his heels. “I- I’ll compile a report right away, General!” He was off the holo before Hux could dismiss him.

Always so eager to please, he would probably never rise beyond Captain. An useful cog in the well-oiled fierce machine that was the Order. Hux knew that he had to put him down for not waiting to be dismissed, despite being partial to the young officer.

He put the holocom away and clasped his hands behind his back before addressing the Captain again. “Any remaining resistance?”

“We haven’t mapped out the whole structure but we have secured most of it. There is one blast door bolted shut; we have already called for magna detonators. It’s only a matter of minutes, sir.”

“I take it that General Organa is hiding there?”

“Negative, sir. Gamma Squad secured her and her staff in the lower levels, apparently they were trying to find a way through the mines.”

What else could they possibly hide behind the last remaining blast door? Hux’s curiosity was piqued. “I want to see for myself. Lead the way, Captain.”

The Stormtrooper led him away from the entrance deeper in the entails of the base. The tunnels were drilled into the dark sediment; apparently the structure itself was a mining shaft. As they walked down the tunnel Hux thought that he felt again a rumble beneath his feet, but it was so soft that he wasn’t sure if he had really felt it.

He could see the mechanically generated sparks from the Stormtrooper trying to cut through the steel door from far away, the biting smell of metal was now heavy in the air.

“Don’t waste your time, Sergeant,” snarled Hux as he was close enough to inspect the door. It was reinforced durasteel. Only a powerful laser or magna detonators would be able to cut through it. He turned to the Captain. “I assume the detonators are soon here?”

“Yes sir.” The Captain proceeded to shoo the soldiers away so that Hux could have a good look at the door.

Hux noticed the ancient intercom panel and opened it, the cables had been ripped out but after plugging them back in he could hear a crackle through the speaker.

He smirked and pulled the button down. “This is General Hux speaking, surrender now and we may spare you.”

The speaker was crackling, finally he could hear a female voice responding. “This is Sergeant Tico speaking, we will never surrender. You will kill us anyway. So shut up.”

The audacity of a mere _Sergeant_ to talk to him like that. It reminded him of Commander Dameron… he pressed his lips to a thin line. “We need the detonators, Captain,” he hissed.

He would show them!

His holocomm started to beep. He activated it and moved out of the way as the demolition squad arrived. He watched them set up the explosives as Mitaka's figure appeared on the floating holo in front of him.

“Sir! We shifted through old Imperial data - Crait is highly unstable. The miners have drilled too deep for the salt, they compromised the mine shafts. A preliminary report suggests that its instability was the reason the Rebels abandoned the base decades ago.”

Hux narrowed his eyes. “How unstable?”

“It’s difficult to say without proper readings, sir.”

He scoffed. “Very well, I’ll see to it that we wrap things up quickly. Dismissed, Lieutenant.”

Mitaka’s figure vanished and Hux noticed that the explosives were all set. The Captain approached him.

“Sir, please step back - this will be over momentarily.”

They went about a hundred meters back in the tunnel, and moments later a dull, muted explosion could be heard. Hux followed the Captain back to the door, keeping safe distance in case that the Rebels had a nasty surprise ready when they would finally pull the door open.

With a frown as he noticed another rumble, he stayed back and called the commanding officer. “Colonel, it appears that the base is seismically unstable. Secure the prisoners and retreat,” Hux ordered.

“Yes, sir.”

Hux ended the call and heard yelling and screams from the room that had been blasted open. A single blast from a rifle could be heard, then more screams. He stepped closer; when he reached the door he saw that two Stormtroopers had subdued a dark-haired human woman, beside her lay a blaster rifle. The bright light from the tunnel and the flashlights of the Stormtroopers illuminated the room. Three human children, a Nautolan man and a Nautolan woman were cowering against a wall.

Hux crooked an eyebrow and addressed the woman who was held down by the Stormtroopers.

“This is what you tried to protect? A few cadets and-” he noticed the Nautolan’s round belly “- and pregnant Nautolans?”

“Keep your filthy hands off them, Hux!” hissed the woman, a defiant glare in her eyes.

“My my my, what a temper you have, Sergeant.” He crouched down in front of the children, the oldest, a dark-skinned human girl was about ten years old, the younger girl was apparently her sister, the youngest was a toddler who stared at him wide-eyed, sucking on his thumb.

“Do you want a warm meal?” he asked the oldest girl. “You don’t have to be afraid, we will take good care of you.”

“Don’t-” screamed the Sergeant, when her face was pressed into the muddy ground she broke off.

“Please, leave us,” said the male Nautolan. “Let us go, we- we promise we just want to get home.”

Hux got up. “You made your choice when you raised your hand against the First Order.” He turned to the Stormtrooper captain. “Take them with the other prisoners. Separate the cadets and arrange a transport to-”

A loud rumble was followed by an earthquake so powerful that it made Hux almost lose his balance and drowned out his words. Kriff, he had lingered too long! The mining shafts were even more unstable than he had thought.

Small rocks and dust fell from the ceiling on the people in the room, just as Hux was about to say something another earthquake occured, covering him in a cloud of dust. The next thing he realised was that he lost his balance and that he was in free fall. Before he even had time to process what was happening, something hit his head and he lost consciousness.

Hux slowly blinked and heard loud coughing; it took him a few seconds to realise that it was he who was wheezing and coughing. Something heavy was weighing him down; with a groan he moved. What the- yes, he was on Crait. The mines were unstable… it was dark save one light source in front of him. He coughed some more and staggered on his feet, he could feel debris and dust falling off him like a heavy blanket being pulled away.

He bent down and picked up the light - it was a flashlight from the Stormtroopers. Hux turned in the direction where he thought the door was, only to discover that there was only a dark tunnel leading further down. He spun over his own axis and saw a pile of rubble behind him. Kriff! He must have fallen through the floor down on a lower level of the mines.

He coughed again and was trying to gather his bearings as he noticed a half-buried Stormtrooper in the rubble. He quickly knelt down and lifted a few rocks away, there was blood seeping out of the Troopers chest plate and when he pulled the helmet away to feel the pulse of the Stormtrooper he saw that she was dead, her empty eyes were staring up at the ceiling. He still checked her pulse as per regulation and exhaled when the examination confirmed that she was no longer breathing.

The sound of moving debris made him spin on his heel, pulling his blaster out of his holster. He tried to find the source of the noise but he couldn’t see anything. Slowly he stepped closer, stopping when he noticed a crevasse between two large metallic pieces, it was half-buried under a few smaller rocks. He could hear silent sobs and frowned. It didn’t sound like an adult, perhaps it was one of the children. But of course it could be some sort of ploy to catch him off guard.

“Who is there?” he asked.

Instead of an answer he heard groaning from another direction. Kriff, he couldn’t be at two places at once. First things first. He crouched down and lifted his flashlight as well as his blaster to look into the crevasse.

The three cadets… or rather future cadets were sitting together huddled in a corner. They were dust-covered, their cheeks were wet from tears that mixed with the red mud from the ground.

He got up and walked towards the direction where he heard the silent groan coming from. After searching a bit he found the two Nautolans buried under debris, a shiver ran down his spine as he noticed that the female’s leg had several open fractures. She didn’t move and the male Nautolan was drawing a rattling breath, whispering something. His head tentacles had been smashed by a sharp rock, so had half of his face.

Hux had seen enough battle to know that the Nautolan wouldn’t survive, he didn’t know if he even registered pain anymore with his caved in skull but there was really only one thing to do. Hux lifted his blaster and shot him in the head with two quick blasts.

The dry, rattling breath stopped and green-blueish blood leaked out of the entry point. He stepped closer to the female’s leg and touched it, it was already cooling off. Hux gulped and put his blaster away.

He dusted himself off, and reached inside his greatcoats pocket for the holocomm. The small device floated up in the air, but the red light on its base indicated that it didn’t connect into the First Order network. Hux grabbed it and inspected it - at least it wasn’t damaged. He went to the nearest wall and used the flashlight to inspect it; the red mud had a silvery texture. Either he was deeper down than he thought or the minerals were blocking his signal.

Just as he was about to make another attempt at contacting his troops a light rumble could be heard from below. Kriff, the mines were still unstable.

The rumble faded into nothing, only a dull knocking could be heard now. It was very quiet but the rhythm suggested that it wasn’t a natural phenomenon. He found the pile of rubble it was emanating from and knocked back. Perhaps Stormtroopers captured in another part of the mines?

He started to dig with his hands, carefully taking one stone after another away lest the wall wouldn’t collapse on him. After a couple of minutes a ray of light shone out of the small opening he and the other person had dug out. Large rocks and wooden beams made it impossible to make the opening larger.

A cloud of dust rippled down on him and he coughed. “Report, soldier.”

“Is that you, Hux?” asked a female voice with an Outer Rim accent.

Hux gritted his teeth. It was the rebel woman. “That’s _General_ Hux.”

He could hear a scoff. “That is what you’re concerned about now? We just fell stars knows how many meters down an abandoned mine shaft and from what I can tell the teutonic stability isn’t that great.”

“How typical of Rebel scum to hide in a base that is as stable as a nuclear fission,” sneered Hux. “Wasn’t there some base on top of an active volcano you could get to?”

“As far as I remember it was you that blew open the blast door with explosives. And you-”

The ground shook again, another cloud of dust fell down from the ceiling.

The rebel cleared her throat. “We need to get out of here.”

“I concur,” said Hux and wiped the dust off his greatcoat. “I take it that there aren’t any Stormtroopers with you?”

“No… I’m alone.”

“A pity, the pioneers carry ropes and hooks.”

“Are you alone?” She paused. “I- there were children...”

“They are here, as far as I could see they are not injured.”

He could hear a gasp. “As far as you could see? Didn’t you check on them?”

Hux didn’t like her tone. Cadets were hardly his concern in this situation. “I was busy with the Nautolans,” he said in a cutting voice. “They were both crushed to death… more or less.”

“Kriff.”

“You don’t happen to have a layout of these mines?” asked Hux while he used the flashlight to shine down the only tunnel not blocked by debris. It was going deeper down.

“Of course not. But I worked in the mines of Hays Minor. I assume that the workers used the same logic here.”

“Main Tunnels and rescue shafts?”

“Yeah… how do you-”

“We had to drill deep for Starkiller.”

“But I bet you didn’t use mine workers, right?”

He frowned. “No, but-”

“Mine workers value their safety above anything else - besides rescue shafts they would also make sure that the air circulation works without artificial help.” She coughed. “We can basically follow the draught, it should lead up back up to the surface.”

“Hm, the only way I see is leading downwards.”

“It will eventually intersect with another tunnel that leads up.”

“Why should I trust anything you say?” asked Hux with a scoff.

She swore under her breath. “Why? I tell you why! Because there are _children_! Do you honestly think I would risk their well-being just because you happen to be here? I can’t dig through all this debris - the rocks are to heavy to move. You are the only one capable of leading them out of here,” she took a deep breath. “Listen, I know that you’re barely human but you have to-”

“I don’t have to do anything,” snapped Hux.

“Yes you do! Because even an evil jerk like you wouldn't leave kids behind. Right? _Right_?” There was a hint of desperation, even fear in her voice. He was tempted to tell her that he didn’t care but she was right; he had no intention to harm the children. After all, they were potential recruits.

“Of course not,” he said icily. “But I hope that they don’t slow me down while I escape from this deathtrap.”

She exhaled. “Okay, I need to talk to them. Can you get them?”

Hux thought about telling her to stop ordering him around but they didn’t have the time to argue.

He returned to the crevasse and looked once again inside. The children were still huddled together. He cleared his throat. “Stay still, I’ll make room so that you can come out.”

He put the flashlight down and used his hand to pull rocks and rubble away until the opening was big enough for the children to squeeze through.

“Come on,” Hux said and gestured them to come to him. “We have to get out of here.”

The oldest girl sniffled. “You are with the First Order, we are not supposed to trust you.”

What now? Well, most children obeyed when confronted with an adult. “Enough, I’m an adult and you come with me now.”

“No.”

Stars! Even the Rebel’s children were unruly. He got up and went back to the Rebel woman. “Surprisingly they don’t want to come with me,” he stated while pulling at his black leather glove.

“Jeez, I wonder why with your sunny disposition,” she pushed something silvery through the tiny hole. Hux took it and recognized the silver pendant he had once seen on board the _Supremacy_.

“It’s you- the Rebel scum who tried to sabotage the hyperspace tracker.”

“The name is Tico and yes, we did. Now go back and show this to the kids and tell them Rose said- said to follow you,” she sighed. “Kriff.”

He went back and dangled the pendant in front of the opening. “Uh, Rose gave me this. You are supposed to come with me.”

The oldest girl wiped over her eyes. “Okay.” She got up and lead the other two children to the opening; Hux reached inside and pulled the toddler out. The other children left without his help.

He put the toddler down on the ground. “Stay close,” he said and showed them the way to the Rebel woman. He made an effort to direct the beam from the flashlight away from the corpses.


	2. Red on Black

“Are you alright?” asked Tico.

“Rose!” exclaimed the oldest girl. “Rose, come get us - it’s scary!”

“I want to go home,” whined the second oldest girl.

“I know, I know,” said Tico with a tremble in her voice. “You all will get home, I- I promise. But we are stuck here and we need to get out.”

“Can’t you come to us?”

“Listen, Chenia… I can’t dig through all this debris. You need to go with Hux and we will meet up later.”

“But-” chimed the second girl in, “he is one of _them_.”

Tico hesitated for a moment. “Yes, yes he is. But he will help you - so you need to go with him, alright?”

“Okay.”

“Hux, are you there?”

He frowned. “Of course I am.”

Something was pushed through the small opening and fell down on his side, it was a ration bar, three more were stuffed through along with a bottle of water. He crammed everything in the pockets of his greatcoat.

“That’s all I got to spare,” Tico said. “We should head out now.”

“I have no intention to linger in this grave,” he replied sourly.

“Rose,” whined the younger girl. “I’m scared. I don’t wanna go with him.”

Hux grimaced; this was going to be a difficult undertaking. Would the children get on his nerves all the way? “And I don’t want you to drag along, but here we are,” he said with a huff. The fearful look on the children's face made him regret his harsh words. Weak, even after all these years.

“Lil… just- just stay with Chenia, alright? Stay together and I will find you.”

A deep rumble rang through the tunnel, it was louder than before.

“We need to go,” said Hux, his sights fell on the toddler who was inspecting a stone on the floor as if was the most interesting object in the galaxy. Kriff, there was no way he could walk on his own and the other children were too scrawny and small to help him. With a sigh, Hux bent down and picked him up. Of all the indignity… reduced to carry some Rebel offspring.

The toddler stared at him wide-eyed, drooling a little. Hux pulled the corners of his mouth down, disgusting little creature. “Up,” the toddler mumbled.

“A very astute observation,” retorted Hux. He glanced over his shoulder and saw that the girls were holding each others hands. “Come now.”

They walked for about ten minutes down the tunnel; Hux could feel his left arm getting tired from holding the child. He changed sides and took the flashlight in his left hand. They continued down the dark path. Shouldn’t an intersection appear soon? The way Tico had talked he had believed that there was one every few hundred meters.

Hm, perhaps the mines were so vast that they had intersections only every few kilometers? A far away rumble could be heard and the ground shook slightly; it was enough to make the girls gasp.

He could feel his stomach drop, if the tunnel before them collapsed they would never make it out. He gritted his teeth, they had to move faster - stars knew when the ceiling would cave. He quickened his step, only to notice a slight tugging at his greatcoat. Surprised, he looked down and saw that Chenia was holding onto it, literally dragging Lil behind her.

Since when was she holding on to him? He hadn’t noticed. When she saw his glare she let go of him and tried to match his fast pace.

They wouldn’t be able to keep up this speed, not in the long term. As if to prove his point, Lil tripped and fell down on the ground. Chenia tried to pull her back on her feet but the girl just started to sob and wiped over her face. “I’m tired.”

Stars, he didn’t have time for this! “Not tired enough-” he broke off. Seeing her like this stirred an old memory in Hux.

_‘I’m tired, sir.’_

_His father had bent down until his reddish face was but centimetres away. ‘Not tired enough if you can still complain, cadet!’_

_Hux was holding his side, his midriff hurting from the running, his scraped knees burning from the sweat that was running down in the merciless sun beating down on him._

_The next thing he knew was that his blood was dripping down from his nose, his father tugging at his black leather glove. ‘Two more rounds, I won’t tolerate weaklings in my unit.’_

He pressed his lips together, a shiver running down his back. This wouldn’t work, either he slowed down, risked to get caught up in another earthquake or he needed to leave the cadets behind and move at a quicker pace. He couldn’t have it both ways.

His eyes darted from Lil and Chenia and to the toddler in his arm, who was holding onto his greatcoat lapels with his tiny hands, dark-brown eyes wide open. It- it was logical what he had to do - they were cadets, cadets under his command… after all they were meant for the Stormtrooper programme. Yes, it was his duty as their commanding officer to lead them; just as he led his Stormtroopers.

He licked his lips, he knew about commanding soldiers. No need to overthink this. He just had to motivate the cadets to keep going.

He walked a few steps back and put the toddler down. He crouched down next to Chenia and Lil. “Your parents are reb- soldiers, aren’t they?”

The girls stared at him, silent tears running down Lil’s cheeks.

“I’m a General and as such I need soldiers. I’m promoting you to… Captain,” he said and pulled two code cylinders from his pocket and clipped them on Chenia’s yellow jumper which had a minimised nexu imprinted on it.

Then he took another code cylinder and clipped it on Lil’s green dress. “You are a Lieutenant now.”

She looked fascinated at the silver code cylinder, seemingly having forgotten about being tired. “What about him?” she asked and pointed at the toddler trying to touch Chenia’s code cylinders.

“He- uh, he is a Private.” Hux cleared his throat. “As Captain it’s your job to help me and oversee your subordinates.”

She frowned. “What’s a subor-”

“The Lieutenant and the Private,” Hux quickly said, “they are your squad.”

Lil felt the code cylinder up with her fingertips. “Okay.”

Apparently he had the cadets under control, at least they were much calmer now. Structure and hierarchy establish security - as always. All he had to do now was to lead them out of the tunnels. He lifted the toddler up and shone the flashlight into the tunnel they had to go.

“Sergeant Tico said that we will find an exit eventually,” he said. Hux started walking again, but slower than before. He was glancing from time to time at Chenia and Lil; they were staying close to him.

When they reached a crossroad about half an hour later Hux decided that it was time for a break. So far the cadets had been compliant, but nothing made soldiers more restless than if they were hungry and thirsty.

“Captain Chenia, I need you to watch over the Private,” he said and put the boy down. She grabbed him by his hood that had - oddly enough - animal ears sewn to it and looked at Hux with big eyes.

He reached inside his pockets and pulled a ration bar out. He broke it in half and then again in three pieces. When confronted with an unknown territory it was wise to conserve the squad’s resources.

He gave the three pieces to Chenia and wrapped up the rest of the ration bar and put it back in his pocket. “I put you in charge of distributing the food. Lieutenant,” he turned his attention to Lil, “make sure that the Private eats his ration.” There, that should keep them occupied while he tried to figure out which way to take.

He went to the crossroads and pulled his glove from his right hand, he licked his trigger finger and held it up; it seemed that there was a draught coming from the tunnel to his left. He put his glove back on. Hm, it was a very imprecise way to navigate but then again there were no other means.

He took out his portable holo and activated it. It hovered right before him, illuminating the crossroad with pale blue light, but it still couldn't connect. Hux crooked an eyebrow, well, that wasn’t exactly a surprise. Hm, were they looking for him? Or had the Order evacuated the planet?

He put the device back in his pocket and frowned a bit when he brushed against the ration bars and the rebels pendant in it - it was all too messy for him, he wasn’t used to having his pockets stuffed like that. It irked him.

“General,” rang a voice out.

Hux lost his train of thought and lifted his gaze. “Yes, Captain?”

“I’m thirsty.”

He went over to them and pulled the bottle Sergeant Tico had given him out of his other greatcoat pocket. “Just one gulp per soldier. We still have to walk for a bit.”

Chenia took the big bottle and took a tiny gulp, then she passed it to Lil. The girl handled the bottle clumsily and before Hux could utter a warning it slipped out of her hands and fell on the ground. Hux quickly grabbed it before more than a tiny amount could spill.

“Careful!” he snapped.

Lil looked startled. “I’m sorry.”

_‘You are pathetic,’ snarled his father._

_He looked down on the broken glass and the dark-brown liquid in front of his feet. ‘I didn’t mean to…’_

_Admiral Brooks laughed, it was a dry, humourless laugh that reminded Hux of a bark. ‘Given you found his mother in a kitchen you’d think your illegitimate son could at least serve a drink, Commandant Hux.’_

_‘Unfortunately I have yet to find anything Armitage isn’t utterly useless at, Admiral Brooks.’_

_‘Be a shame to waste all of that. He should lick it up,’ sneered Brooks, barking again._

_He had looked at his father, insecure what to do. Was he expected to- the last time his father had disciplined him because he had questioned his order. ‘Father?’_

_His father had stared at him with his cold eyes, disgust was apparent on his face._

_When no answer came he went down on his knees, just to be jerked up by his arm so hard that his shoulder hurt._

_‘You weak snivelling-’ snarled his father and raised his hand._

Hux gulped, cold anger taking hold of him. He had shown them, first his father and then the Admiral. A memory of Brooks grovelling before him before he shot him resurfaced before his inner eye. His hand clenched to a fist.

His sight fell again on the girl in front of him. He unclenched his hand. “It’s alright, Lieutenant Lil,” he said in a calm voice. “The bottle was heavy. Just make sure that you hold it tighter the next time.”

He crouched down and held the bottle as the toddler drank, most of the water ran down his chin. Hux grimaced as he realised that he should have taken a gulp first. Stars knew what diseases these rebel children had. He wiped over the opening of the bottle before he screwed it shut - he wasn’t thirsty. Or at least not enough to drink from the same bottle as them.

His arm hurt from exertion when he picked the boy up again. He had known that he wasn’t exactly athletic but he couldn’t have imagined that carrying around a four-year-old would be so tiring.

They walked for what felt like at least two hours until they reached another crossroads. The boy was getting restless and began fussing. Hux frowned. What was it now?

The girls sat down on the ground as soon as he stopped and hugged their knees. He let go of the wriggling toddler and checked the draught. It appeared that they needed to keep on walking on the way they were on.

He checked again his holo but it couldn’t connect to the First Order network. Hm, come to think about it - what about other signals? He searched for other signal and watched as the blueish light of the holo fizzled.

He took in a sharp breath when a fuzzy figure appeared. Someone had received his signal! The figure flickered in and out and disappeared again. The signal was too weak for a transmission.

He peeled the holo open, perhaps if he boosted the short-range signal? All he had to do is increase the hertz-freq-

“We need to pee.”

He blinked and slowly turned to face the children. “What?”

“We need to pee,” repeated Lil.

“Well, just go over there and relieve yourself,” replied Hux with a frown. “Take the Private with you.”

“But it’s scary in the dark.”

With a sigh he handed them his flashlight; the pale light of the holo should be enough to work on the device.

Chenia took the flashlight in both hands and they went into one of the tunnels in the crossroad while he started to calibrate the signal output. Just as he had finished a much smaller figure than usual materialized on the holo. Hux squinted - it was Sergeant Tico.

“Can you hear me?” he asked.

“-es. -boosted the signal. -compressed the data stream.”

Compressing the data! He was impressed, he hadn’t thought of that. But it made sense of course. He quickly did the same on his holo.

“Is the signal now stronger?”

She nodded. “Loud and clear. Where are the children?”

“They are nearby - don’t worry, I’m aware of my duty.”

It was difficult to see on this small scale but she seemed to frown. “Duty?”

He wasn’t interested in this conversation. He didn’t owe Rebel scum any explanation. “Did you find the exit?”

“I want to see the children first. I need to know that they are safe.”

“Safe is a relative term, is it not?” he said with a crooked eyebrow. “Are you even aware of the irony that you consider them being with me ‘safe’? A few hours ago we-”

“Shut your trap! I don’t need to hear your condescending tone, Hux. I know exactly who you are and what you’re capable of. And I swear by the Twin Suns of Tatooine that I’ll kill you if you lay a hand on those kids. Now put them on!”

Tsk! An unrefined lout like all Rebels - no sense of etiquette and propriety. At the same time she was right of course, why should she tell him anything if she didn’t know if the Rebel offspring were still alive.

As if on cue, he heard footsteps behind him and he beckoned them to come closer. He crouched down a bit to let them see the holo.

“Rose!” They cried out and jumped up and down in excitement. “Rose! Where are you?”

“Hi guys!” A smile was audible in Tico’s voice. “How are you?”

They both talked at the same time. “I want to go home!” “I’m a Captain now!”

“Wait, what?”

Chenia pointed at the code cylinders on her jumper. “Look, I’m Captain!”

“Uh, ahh - so I see. Congratulations, sir,” replied Rose.

“And and and I’m Left- Lieutenant, see?” exclaimed Lil and beamed at Rose while pulling at her dress.

“That’s great! And I see that all three of you are fine. Let me talk to Hux again.”

He straightened his back and walked a few steps. “Did you find the exit?” he asked in a low voice.

“Not yet, the mines run deeper than I thought. But the draught is there, so there is an exit.”

“Provided that it’s not collapsed.”

“You really are a ray of sunshine, Hux.”

“Would you prefer me to be an idiotic optimist?” he snarled. “I’m a survivor and I did survive by looking the reality in the eye.”

“Whatever. Just keep going until- well, until you get out.” She paused. “It’s already late. Perhaps you should let them sleep for a while.”

So she already knew that getting out wasn’t a matter of a few hours. It made sense, they had been quite deep in the structure when the floor collapsed. So far they had walked on level ground, they still had to climb up. Coming to think about it… was there a lift? How else were they supposed to get up to the surface?

“The ration bars won’t last long,” he finally said. “And neither will the water.”

She wiped over her face. “I know. I will try to walk through the night to find an exit. Just make sure that they are s-” she broke off. “Kriff.”

Tico exhaled. “Okay, real talk. I have no leverage to force you to look after the kids - you know it, I know it. And all my threats won’t faze you in the slightest… I’m sure that you have seen it all in the Order. So I’m _asking_ you to be a human being just once in your life.”

“Just because I don’t subscribe to your idealistic beliefs it doesn’t mean that I’m not a human being, Sergeant,” he replied coldly. It bothered him that she really thought he would leave the cadets behind. It was his duty to look after then… in a way. Of course his father wouldn’t have agreed.

_‘Weak, snivelling… soft and dull-witted.’_

“Could have fooled me,” she snapped. Then she wiped again across her face. “Okay, this is not helping. Sorry, okay. I don’t know what to say.”

“I think this conversation has run its course, Sergeant.” With that, they ended the call.

He checked the time on the chronometer and realised that it was almost midnight in Standard Galactic Time. He returned to the cadets, they were yawing and looked indeed tired - he himself was exhausted too from the events of the day. Perhaps it was wise to pitch a camp here and continue in seven to eight hours?

“We will stay here for the night,” he said, sat down on the muddy ground and leaned against the wall. Usually he needed only five hours of sleep to function - at least with stims. Either way it would help if he got a few hours of sleep.

He reached inside his pocket and pulled the half-eaten ration bar out. Hux pulled his gloves off and broke off three small pieces. Before he could say anything the children had gathered around him. They each took one piece, he couldn’t help but notice that their hands were slightly cool. “Are you cold?” he asked with a frown.

“No,” replied Lil, chewing on her morsel of food.

Hesitantly he reached out and took her hand, the first thing he noticed was that it was sticky, the next thing was that her fingers were cold. Come to think about it, it wasn’t surprising. While Crait was a warm planet, the temperatures in the tunnels were at best 20° Celsius. The children wore only jumpers and camisoles.

“Are you certain that you are not cold, Lieutenant?”

“Yes.”

How odd, he thought that they were cold. Well, a mere soldier was relying on their superiors to tell them what to do, so it was logical to assume it was the same with the cadets. Yes, that made sense.

He quickly checked Chenia and the Private, they both had cold hands too. He shed his greatcoat and put it on the ground. “You will sleep on this, soldiers. Captain, Lieutenant, take the Private between the two of you.”

He suppressed a frown when he watched them crawl with their dirty shoes on his precious tailored, shimmersilk-lined coat; as soon as they had settled in he folded the coat so that they were covered. That should keep their core-temperature up.

He sat down across from them and tried to shift in a comfortable position. Finally he had settled in. How long was he supposed to endure this? Shouldn’t they have found him by now? Or had Ren called off the search parties?

What if Ren himself was caught up in the earthquakes? The thought made him less content that he had anticipated - if both Ren and he were trapped on Crait then one of the other Generals could proclaim themselves Supreme Leader. Kriff!

Who could be bold enough to do it first? That old relic Pryde? Or perhaps General Io? Io… she was a feisty one, smart, ruthless and smart… His eyes became heavy and, as he continued to think about his rivals, he fell asleep.


	3. Ghosts in the Dark

Tremors beneath his feet made him stagger; when the red beam finally erupted from the ground, the forest started to collapse. Hux stood on the stage, unable to move as the chasm moved closer to him. Just when he was about to fall, he was was startled. His eyes snapped open when he felt something touch his back. He pulled his hidden monomolecular blade halfway out of his left sleeve when he realised where he was and that it was Lil who was settling down behind him.

He tucked the blade back in its scabbard and glanced over his shoulder. “Lieutenant Lil, what is the meaning of this?”

“I had a bad dream,” she said.

He wiped over his sweat-covered face. “You can’t leave your squad. Go ba-”

Before he could finish the sentence he noticed movement from the other side, Chenia and the Private shuffled over to him and settled next to him.

“You can’t all have bad dreams,” he sighed.

The children didn’t answer, they just crawled up to him. The close contact made him uncomfortable; he wasn’t used to this proximity. As he lay there, surrounded by smelly, mud-covered children he had to think about he had wasted his greatcoat for nothing. Just before he could make up his mind if he should get it, he fell again asleep.

His chrono beeped as always at six o’clock, Hux was drowsy as he turned it off. The cadets were still fast asleep when he slowly got up and went over to his greatcoat. He patted it down and put it back on.

His throat was parched and with some reluctance he pulled the water bottle out of his pocket, wiped it’s opening and took a gulp. Then he took a small bite out of the ration bar, he was feeling slightly sick, probably because he hadn’t eaten for quite a while now. Stars, he would give his right arm for a cup of Tarine tea. He took another bite and stepped away from the children, activating his holo.

Sergeant Tico picked up surprisingly quickly. “Did something happen?”

He shook his head. “Of course not, I just wanted to hear your progress report.”

She was obviously walking as her small blue figure moved and flickered. “I haven’t found the exit yet. But the draught is getting stronger, I must be near it.”

“What about the altitude difference?”

“I found a lift, the thing was ancient but I made it work, but it got stuck halfway up so I guess I’m still below surface.” She yawned. “I got lost once but now I’m back on track. If I find something, I’ll comm you.”

“How in the galaxy could you get lost? I thought all you had to do-”

“I’ve been awake for more than 24 hours, okay? My brain isn’t what it used to be. I will keep going for as long as I can but I will have to rest eventually.” She stopped and seemed to crouch down. “I’ll just catch my breath and be on my way. Tico out.”

“Understood, Sergeant. Hux out.”

He put the holo away and returned to the children. “Get up, soldiers. We need to move out.” He shook them as they covered their eyes when the light of the flashlight blinded them. The Private started to fuss and whine when he woke up, pulling at his pants.

Only now Hux realised that the boy was probably still wearing diapers. Diapers nobody had changed. He pulled the corners of his mouth down. Of all the indignity he had to endure since Ren became Supreme Leader, this was the last straw. “Captain, do you know how to change diapers?”

Chenia rubbed her eyes. “No.”

“Hold the flashlight,” Hux sighed as he knelt down.

The boy wriggled and cried as he pulled his pants down; the diaper he was wearing was apparently full. Hux wasn’t bothered by the smell or the very sight as he opened the diaper. On the battlefield he had seen much, much worse. The smell of blood, piss and shit from dying soldiers was so intense that everything paled before this, especially if the person before him didn’t have his guts spilling out.

He threw the diaper away and pulled a custom made handkerchief out of his breast pocket, he wiped the boy clean as good as he was able and then he took off his greatcoat and his jacket, handing them both to Lil before taking off the regulatory black t-shirt he was wearing underneath his uniform.

If the children noticed the scabbard of his blade that was strapped to his left forearm, they didn’t say anything. Perhaps they didn’t understand what it was for. He put his jacket back on and when the topmost button was closed again he started to cut the t-shirt in three large pieces.

He used one of the pieces as makeshift diaper and when he had finished the boy had calmed down. He was just staring at Hux with big eyes, sucking on his thumb.

Hux didn’t know much about children but he thought it was odd how quiet the toddler was. He had thought that he would make more noise, instead he was just quiet and passive.

Well, it was certainly easier that way. He got up and put on his greatcoat before picking up the boy. “Let’s go.”

“... and when I get home I will visit Munyn. She is my best friend, she is a pilot and has a Dwarf Blurrg. It’s name is Avo,” said Chenia as she walked next to him.

Hux didn’t reply, instead he focused on the way ahead of them.

“I got a friend too!” said Lil loudly from the other side. “Her name is Leia, she is old but she gives me sweets sometimes. When I get home I’ll eat biscuits and have a hot chocolate! Do you have a friend at home?”

Hux scoffed. “No, I haven’t.”

“Why?”

Stars, he should just have lied! They were talking at him for the past half hour and didn’t show any signs of getting tired. “Adults don’t have friends.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know, perhaps it’s because we work a lot.” He had to say something to distract them. “What about the Private? Does he have friends?”

“I don’t know,” replied Chenia.

“Me, neither.”

“Why not?”

“Because we don’t know him,” said Lil. “We don’t even know his name.”

“Ah, so there are a lot of cadets with the Rebels?” asked Hux, for the first time interested. He hadn’t known that the Rebels were copying the Order’s new blood programme.

“What’s a cadet?” asked Chenia.

“Uh, children - are there a lot of children with the Rebels?”

“No, just us I guess. And the Private.”

So they weren’t Rebel cadets? How odd. “I take it that your parents are with the Rebels then?”

Chenia nodded. “My dad is! He is the best repairman there is! He is big and strong, the strongest there is.”

“You don’t say,” replied Hux dryly.

“My mum is dead though,” she continued. “I can’t remember her but my dad told me about her. She was a cook, I bet she made the best cakes!”

Hux was tempted to point out that a baker was making cakes but it felt like a moot observation. With the mother out of the picture, the father was probably trying to recruit her into his cause.

“I’m living with my aunt and her wife,” chimed Lil in, tugging at his coat to get his attention. “They are both technicians! They fix stuff too.”

“Are your parents dead?” asked Chenia bluntly.

“Yes, they died during the war. But Auntie Niv took me in.”

Chenia seemed to muse over something. “Are your parents alive, General?”

“No, they are not.”

“Who do you celebrate Lifeday with then?”

“Adults don’t celebrate Lifeday,” he curtly replied.

“Rose says that she loves Lifeday,” retorted Chenia. “She is an adult and celebrates it.”

A biting remark was on the tip of his tongue, instead he just hummed and continued his way.

Hux thought that they made good progress as they reached the fourth crossroad after a few hours and a couple of breaks. In the late afternoon the children took a nap on his greatcoat while Hux rested. He tried to raise his First Order contacts but like the last few times it didn’t work.

From far away he could hear a loud rumble and a slight tremor made him tense up, but it was over quickly. So far they had been lucky with the earthquakes or, rather, the stability of the tunnels.

His holo started to beep, he activated it and a dishevelled Tico appeared. “That tremor just now-”

“It was far away.”

She relaxed visibly and sat down. “By the Force, I need a break.”

“We haven’t found the lift yet, but if we do… perhaps I can reach one of our ships. The signal might be strong enough to get through the sediments.”

“That’s not exactly an exciting prospect for the children and me,” she didn’t sound annoyed, just tired.

“The children would be safe,” he said in a quiet voice. “Safer than being with Rebels on the run.”

“You really believe that, don’t you? That them becoming Stormtroopers would be safe?”

“Well, yes. If they're shown the right skill they can become officers.”

“Then tell me this: Do you feel safe in the Order?”

The unexpected question made him hesitate. Safe? Yes… no, not with Ren- not with the other-

“You don’t, otherwise you would have said ‘yes’.”

He scowled. “You just surprised me, I feel safe.” It sounded weak. _Snivelling idiot boy._ “Besides, a little hardship strengthens the character.”

“Yeah, nothing like murder and mindless drills to form a boy’s character, right?”

“I won’t be lectured by a woman who clings to worthless celebrations like _Lifeday_!” snapped Hux. “I know you and your ilk! You think the galaxy consists of gentle thoughts and kindness but I have seen it! It’s dirty, messy and brutal.”

“That was oddly specific,” she replied casually, not the slightest impressed by his outburst. “How do you know about me celebrating Lifeday?”

Damn it! He should just stayed calm, calm and professional. “The children mentioned it,” he pressed out. “They are offering all kinds of unsolicited information.”

She got up and stretched. “Stars, I’m beat.” She started to walk, her tiny figure moving in the holo. “Unsolicited information, huh? You mean they behave like normal, sociable people - oh no,” she said in mocking astonishment.

He pressed his lips together. Of course she was making fun of him. “Jeer all you want, I don’t care-”

“Gotta say, for a stiff uniform you are quite easy to rile up.”

She was seeing right through him; how could she not? Judging from her fighting spirit and her determination she was strong, and the strong always sniffed out the weak so that they could crush them. “I don’t know what you are talking about,” he said, but even he could hear the strain in his voice.

“Really?” she scoffed. “So when Poe made that lame yo-mama-joke you-”

Before he could stop himself, he ended the call. He stared at the now dark holo; his heart was hammering against his chest. She even knew that he was nothing but a lowly bastard. He noticed that his hand trembled and he wiped over his face. _Stupid, silly boy!_

He shouldn’t have ended the call, now she knew that she had gotten under his skin. But then again she already knew that he was weak and soft.

Well, he would show her! Once he had caught up to her, he would show her what it meant to mock him! He grit his teeth. Let’s see if she was still laughing at him when she was strapped to an interrogation-

A noise from the direction of the children interrupted his thoughts. He straightened himself, first things first. He had his duty to fulfill.

Lil was awake and blinked when she looked into his flashlight. She was hugging her knees, looking at him with big teary eyes.

“What is it?” asked Hux. “Are you hungry?”

“I thought you left us,” she said in a throaty voice. Before he had time to react she got up and threw her arms around him.

Hux gulped, looking down on the girl, insecure what had brought it on. He cleared his throat. “I’m your commanding officer, Lieutenant. I won’t desert you.”

“Promise that you won’t go on a mission,” her voice was muffled due to his greatcoat.

He awkwardly patted her back. “What are you talking about? Why would I go on a mission?”

“Mum and dad always went on missions, I had to promise them to be a big girl…” She looked up to him, tears forming in her eyes. “I hate missions, they are stupid!”

He took her arms and gently pried them off his waist. Then he crouched down, to have a better look at her. She looked miserable, scared and alone. “Military regulation forbids that Generals go on missions,” he began haltingly. “Paragraph 458b clearly states that a commanding officer’s place is with his troops.” He didn’t mention that abandoning one’s post was punishable by death.

She sniffed. “You won’t leave?”

He smiled at her. “That would be a dereliction of duty. Of course I wouldn’t.”

She played with the hem of her dress. “Okay.”

“Come on, let’s wake the others. We need to walk for a bit before we can rest again.”

She nodded and went over to Chenia to wake her. Hux was about to wake the Private when he noticed that he was already awake, staring at him while sucking his thumb. Again it was striking how quiet he was. Or were children his age so quiet? He didn’t know for sure but it seemed unlikely.

They were walking down the tunnel when Hux decided to inquire about the Private. “Captain Chenia, you said that you don’t know much about the Private… but even so, are children his age so… mute?”

Chenia shrugged. “I don’t know. But my cousin was certainly louder, he always annoyed me with his stupid ball games. Also, he was chewing with his mouth open! It was so gross!”

“Ah,” replied Hux.

“There were a few refugees at the last base,” Chenia continued. “They were strange, some of them hoarded food in their rooms. They didn’t even say hello when I greeted them. They just stared at me like I was a ghost or something.”

“Refugees? From where?”

“From a planet that starts with… On… something like that.”

“Onderon?”

“Yes,” she beamed at him. “Onderon!”

Hux felt an iron grip around his heart. The First Order had occupied Onderon for years, they had many treasures of the soil needed for Starkiller. The Onderionians were proud, stubborn people - there had been frequent uprisings that had to be crushed. Some Rebels had gone in hiding, lurking in the sewers of the capital of the planets. Quiet and invisible like shadows. Hux had read the reports, General Sagk had hunted them down with vengeance. Slaughtering civilians when needed.

Was this why the boy was so quiet? Because he had been hiding underground with his parents? Had they taught him to be still lest they wouldn’t be discovered? Hux could feel a lump forming in his throat.

It was odd, feeling the boy clinging to him, knowing that he was his enemy, having forced him underground. Making him literally mute. He gulped. The medics at the academy would notice his lack of communication, perhaps suspecting mental deficits.

He grabbed him a bit firmer. The Private wouldn’t make it to the Stormtrooper programme, he would be sold to the hutts. All because the Private’s parents had been too stubborn to bow to the First Order.

No, no… this was conjecture. Perhaps he was just shy. Perhaps he just needed mental stimulation...

At the next halt, he gave Chenia two pieces of the ration bar. “I’ll take care of the Private myself,” he said and sat down next to the boy.

Now what? He dimly remembered that he had seen on some of the occupied planets that parents had been playing with their children, lifting them up in the air, making them shriek from pleasure.

_‘What are you waiting for? Stop bothering me and go to bed.’_

He himself had wished for acknowledgement, even after years he had still hoped that his step-mother would come by just once, tell him a bedtime story like the orderly sometimes did when his father was away.

What had happened to Sergeant Collhey? He couldn’t remember. Come to think of it… he could barely remember his face. But his voice… he still remembered his voice. Deep and with a hint of Core World accent.

Hux gave the Private the morsel of food and watched him chew on it. “Do you like the taste?” he asked.

The Private turned his head into his direction and stared at him, still chewing.

“I assume you speak Basic,” Hux continued. “Can you tell me your name?” He pointed at himself. “General Hux.” Then he pointed at the boy.

The Private frowned and reached out, grabbing Hux’s finger with his tiny hand. Then he looked expectantly at him.

Hux smiled. “You are right of course, it’s impolite to point at people.”

The boy let go of his finger and sat down on the ground, examining the muddy floor and various rocks lying around. He took a small rock and showed it to Hux.

“Ah, so you are interested in Geology? That’s sensible, there are many uses for that profession.” He took the stone. _Stupid, snivelling brat._ He forced himself to smile again. “Thank you, what an excellent example of the local sediments.”

The boys eyes went wide and he quickly picked up another stone he handed to Hux.

Hux lifted the stone up and shone his flashlight on it. “Hm, a gneissic rock. Another good example.” He leaned down and pointed at the brighter bands on the grey stone. “Look, you can clearly see the sediments here and here.”

The toddler made an undefined sound, it sounded like a hum.

“I think there is a hint of garnet and mica present, wouldn’t you agree, Private?”

The boy took the stone out of Hux’s open hand and looked at it with a deep frown.

“I concur, further examination is warranted. I suspect that there are traces of gold in it.”

He checked his chronometer and got up again. It was time to move on.

About two hours later they finally reached the lift shaft Sergeant Tico had told him about. Chenia and Lil became excited and jumped up and down. “We are getting out! We are going home!”

Hux checked the controls. The buttons weren’t glowing as they should, perhaps a short-circuit? He used his blade to peel the control box open and examined the cables. Everything seemed in order, he could see where Tico had fixed it before. She certainly knew what she was doing judging from the way she had hot-wired the sub-processor of the remote control with the primary circuit.

He lit up the shaft above him and saw the lift stuck halfway to the upper level. Just as Tico had said.

“I’m afraid the lift isn’t working,” he said and returned to the girls.

“Can’t we climb up?” asked Chenia with a pout.

“Indeed, Captain. We will have to, there is no other way,” he said, straightening his back. “We will pitch our camp here and will climb up first thing in the morning.”

Lil was unusually quiet, she was always eager to make suggestions of her own. Perhaps it had to do with the ‘mission’ she mentioned? Or perhaps she was scared of the climb… and she was right. Even from a short glance he could see that the walls were slippery, laced with small rocks but it was near impossible for the children to climb all the way on their own.

He had little doubt that Chenia would make it way up but climbing in a dark shaft was tricky and required more body strength that she could possibly have. So did Lil. And of course, there was the Private to consider.

Sergeant Tico couldn’t help, she was probably far away now, still looking for an exit. No, he had to come up with something.


	4. Grey Nuance

He waited until the children were eating their dinner, then he went to the lift and checked the steel cables that were running down on the side. He grabbed one and pulled at it. The hold was good; he tugged at his gloves and grabbed a cable. Swinging himself in the shaft, he used his feet to clamp the steel cable between his legs and pulled himself slightly up.

Then he swung back to the entrance and exhaled. He could do it; he estimated that it was about ten meters upwards to the next exit. With a break on the level where the lift was stuck it should be possible to get the children up, even if he wasn’t athletic. He needed something to help the children climb or rather something to enable them to hold onto him. The answer was easy, albeit distasteful - he had to use his tailored greatcoat as a backpack of some sort.

He returned to the children, noticing that Lil was watching him closely. She was still afraid that he would leave. They each took a gulp water, Hux’s throat was parched but he took only a small sip, seeing as the bottle was becoming lighter and lighter.

The toddler lifted something up from the floor and gave it to Hux. It was another stone. “Thank you, Private. This appears to be an… augen gneiss. Yes, you can see it here,” he pointed to the layered sediments of the stone. “A very fine example.”

Lil came closer and almost sat on his lap. “It’s just a boring stone.”

“It’s not boring, Lieutenant. Every rock tells a story of how it was made.” He made an effort to smile at the boy and, to his eternal surprise, he returned the smile and said “up”. He quickly picked up another stone and gave it to Hux, giggling a little when Hux thanked him again.

“A story?” asked Lil in awe. “What’s its story?”

Chenia laughed. “The rock doesn’t have a story, Lil. It’s just a figure of speech.”

“I know! Can you tell us a story, General?” asked Lil eagerly, now climbing on his lap and taking the next stone the Private brought.

Hux shifted uncomfortably and was about to move when the boy imitated Lil and sat on his leg, grabbing the lapel of the greatcoat like he did during the day. From the looks of it, the boy had made progress - so perhaps he could still participate in the Stormtrooper programme. He needed to keep the mental stimulus up.

“I- well, yes. I can tell a story.” He had held countless speeches in front of Stormtroopers, with his oratory skills it should be easy to make something up. A story… an account of a series of related events, experiences, whether true or fictitious… as far as he remembered the rare bedtime stories he heard were about royalty.

Chenia leaned against him too, it was an odd sensation - feeling their warmth on him. The way they looked at him, without hate or disgust…

_‘Stupid boy, all day I get to see strong able recruits and when I get home I have to endure your sorry existence.’_

“There was once a princess on a far away Outer Rim planet. Her father was a powerful king and ruled over many sectors in the system. He wanted the princess to become a queen one day, so he did everything to teach her how to be a leader. He made her sweep the nerf stables so that she would become strong, she had to run many rounds around the castle to get fast, and he instructed her to read many books to become smart. Indeed she became strong, fast and wise - true nobility. The king loved the princess very much and wanted to keep her in the castle lest she would get hurt. But the princess was too strong and too fast - she kept going on adventures-”

“What kind of adventures?” chimed Chenia.

“She travelled the whole kingdom and until she found the brightest rainbow in the galaxy.”

“Was it a magical rainbow?” asked Lil.

He nodded. “It was a magical rainbow, it reached other star systems and it brought peace. People stopped fighting when they saw it. They bowed to the king. Wars ended and soldiers returned home to their families.”

Lil gaped at him. “Everybody went home?”

“Yes, and the princess returned to her father, he welcomed her with a parade and crowned her queen because he saw that she was a much better ruler than he because she hadn’t only cared for her realm, she had cared about the whole galaxy.”

When he had ended his tale he noticed that the Private had fallen asleep.

“Is the princess still alive?” asked Chenia.

“Of course she is,” replied Lil, “she has a magic rainbow!”

“We should go to sleep,” said Hux and lifted the boy up, before he wriggled out of his greatcoat. Chenia and Lil put it down on the ground and crawled on it, this time he didn’t mind their dirty shoes. He was about to sit down too, when his holo beeped. He went a few meters away and watched the children settle in, yawning as they covered themselves with the coat.

Sergeant Tico’s figure appeared. She was leaning against something. “Hi, Hux.”

“Sergeant, I suggest that we keep this short. I’m not interested in talking to you.”

She slid down until she sat on the ground. “It’s so quiet here… it’s driving me crazy. Talk to me while I catch my breath.”

He scoffed. “Is this another ploy to mock me? You can take all the cheap shots you want at me, but I’m under no obligation to endure them.”

“No jokes, I promise.”

He chewed on his lower lip. “I don’t understand what you want from me.”

“Just- just a little company. I have been on my feet for two days straight, I think I slept a couple of hours yesterday but my sense of time is off.” She paused. “Are the children okay?”

He glanced over. “They are sleeping now. We are at the lift shaft and will try to climb it tomorrow. I will use my coat as some kind of rucksack.”

“Alright… how are you holding up?”

He frowned. “I already told you, the children-”

“Yeah, but how are _you_ doing?”

What did she mean by that? Was this a veiled critique about how he handled the situation? “I don’t understand the question.” As soon as he had said it, he regretted it - he had stepped into her trap. Now she would laugh, make fun of his inability-

“We are in a tough situation. I just want to know how you are.”

“I’m… fine,” he said cautiously.

“Really? I for my part am terrified that we will all be crushed to death with the next earthquake.” She exhaled. “Come on, nobody is here except us. How are you?”

“Tired, thirsty, and hungry,” he said. “My arms hurt from carrying the toddler. And I think he is not well.” He didn’t know why he added the last part, perhaps it was because he was tired.

She seemed to frown but he was not sure due to the small holo. “Not well? Is he sick or-”

“He is too quiet, he just keeps looking with these big eyes of his, not making a sound.”

“Uh, and children his age should be noisier? Sorry, I don’t know a thing about children.”

“What? I thought you were their caretaker.”

She sighed. “No, I’m a mere maintenance worker. I fix fighters, I just happened to be there when the shit hit the fan. I couldn’t leave the kids and the Nautolas to fend for themselves.”

“Ah, I see. You consider it your duty, too.”

“Duty? Well, yeah, perhaps as a sentient being.”

So the Rebels understood duty? Will wonders never cease?

“I admit that I’m a bit surprised that you see it as your duty to keep the kids safe, Hux. I thought you didn’t care that much.”

“Well, seeing as I-” he broke off. He shouldn’t tell her about the Stormtrooper programme. It would agitate her.

“What?”

“It’s not important.”

“Don’t be coy. Tell me, there isn’t much else to do.”

Well, if she insisted. “I’m responsible for them as their future commanding officer,” he said evenly. “The Order needs people to-”

“Don’t you kriffing dare!”

He sighed. “That’s why I didn’t want to tell you. You don’t understand that we want peace and stability, they can have all that once they join the First Order.”

She buried her face in her hands. “Kriff! And here I actually thought that you were more than a drone.”

He shrugged. “I am part of a fierce machine, built to restore Order to the galaxy. I’m not weak and sentimental about my role, I-”

“General?”

He jerked his head up, seeing Chenia standing in front of him, rubbing her eyes. “I’m thirsty.” Hux realised that he had taken the bottle with him and handed it to her. She took a gulp and waved at the Sergeant. “Hi Rose!”

“Hi,” said Tico and waved back. “Shouldn’t you be sleeping? It’s already late.”

“I will… can you tell me another story?” she asked Hux.

Hux could feel how he blushed. For all his talk about not being weak he had been exposed by this innocent question. “Uh, tomorrow perhaps.”

“Ohh, what kind of story did he tell you?” Hux could hear an edge to Tico’s voice.

“It was a tale about a princess who found a magical rainbow, it was so beautiful that people stopped fighting and all the soldiers could go home.”

Hux was thankful that it was so dim in the tunnel that nobody would see his deep red face. “Uh, it’s late. Go back to sleep.”

“Okay, ‘night Rose, ‘night General.” Chenia shuffled over to the others and lay down.

Tico crossed her arms. “Part of a fierce machine, huh? Didn’t know that that included magical rainbows.”

“It’s just something I made up to keep them quiet,” he retorted quickly.

“Do you have children Hux?”

“No! No, of course not.” He pulled the corners of his mouth down.

“Okay, okay - I just thought that maybe-”

He was starting to get annoyed. Was this another attempt to embarrass him? “I told you that I don’t need to hear your insults!”

She threw her arms in the air. “How is asking if you have children an insult?”

“Because you and the other Rebel scum know that I’m but a lowly bastard!” he hissed. “Of course I wouldn’t procreate! The Order needs real soldiers, not- not people like me.” Not skinny, disgusting weaklings.

“I don’t get it… you are a General and you’re - like only 35 years old. Why-”

“I’m the spitting image of my father, and I’m just like him - an opportunist, a cruel, cold man bent to survive. The Order needs honest, hard-working people after it has conquered the galaxy.”

She looked at him for a moment, then she exhaled. “Let me recapitulate: You say you feel safe in the Order, but just now you tell me that the Order doesn’t want people like you. You say that you are cruel and cold and at the same time you told the children some fairy tale about magical rainbows to put them at ease… it doesn’t add up.”

Again, she had noticed that he was nothing but a weakling. He didn’t know how to reply and stayed silent.

“I want children someday,” she suddenly said.

“Why?” he asked in a toneless voice.

“Because I think it’s exciting to see them grow up. Every child has its own, strong personality. They have so much to learn and I want to be the one to teach them. I want to see them grow up, I want to celebrate Lifeday and every other silly event that there is. I think it’s part of life.”

He wanted to tell her that personality didn’t matter but then he realised that this only applied in his world. Discipline was paramount in the Order. Everything else… was unimportant. He couldn’t help but glance at the children who were sleeping a few meters away.

Chenia was confident, ready to take charge but it wouldn’t matter, they would drive that out until she had learned not to question her superiors. Lil was quick to be thrilled, had a lot of fantasy. And the Private…

He pushed these thoughts away. It didn’t matter - all that mattered was to bring law and order to the galaxy, no cost was too high for eternal peace.

“Hux? Are you still there?”

He cleared his throat. “Of course I am. I was thinking about the climb tomorrow.”

“And here I thought I was getting through to you,” she said. “Tsk, I don’t know why I am even trying.”

He didn’t like her tone but he wasn’t sure why. There was something in it he resented, perhaps it was the hint of pity? “You are right - you are wasting your time. I don’t understand why you keep talking to me. You clearly despise me and still you want to talk. It’s illogical.”

“It’s human. Almost all sentient beings are social.”

At least she didn’t lie about hating him. It made sense, she had seen through his weakness so she must be an excellent judge of character. Coming to think of it, the repairs on the lift were quite skillfully done. It seemed that she was a very capable enemy. He respected that.

“I don’t agree,” he said. “Being social leads inevitably to trust and trust leads to betrayal. People aren’t social, they are just trying to find each other's weaknesses.”

“Well, perhaps we’re projecting our character traits onto others.”

Hux scoffed. “That would imply that I’m sociable at all. I can assure you that I keep my distance either way.”

She was quiet for a moment. “That sounds lonely.”

“We are all alone, we come into this galaxy alone and we will leave it alone. Everything else is ornamentation.”

She shrugged and yawned. “Suit yourself. Well, I’m off then.” She leaned against the wall and let her head fall back. “Night, Hux.”

“Uh, Night?”

The holo went out. He stared at it. It was odd, talking to Tico like they weren’t mortal enemies. He had half expected their talk to turn into an argument.

Only now he realised that he hadn’t even asked her if she had found a way out. Well, she would certainly have told him if that were the case. He frowned. Unless she had already found it and was preparing a trap for him. She certainly had a strategic advantage: she knew exactly where he would be tomorrow.

He exhaled and pinched the back of his nose. It didn’t matter. Either way, he had to get up there.

Hux got up and went over to the children, a quick look confirmed that they were all fast asleep. He settled down beside them and moments later he had fallen asleep.

He dreamed again about a red beam shooting up in the sky. The ground under his feet shook and still he was standing on the stage, the huge First Order flags behind him fluttered in the shockwave, eventually burning up from the rising heat. It wasn’t a beam anymore, it was a fire. Hux wondered if it would hurt if he burned but he still stood at attention, he wasn’t allowed to move. Just when the fire was about to reach him a shrill beeping woke him.

His eyes snapped open. Confused, he registered that he was warm, almost hot. The reason became clear after he looked around; the children had snuggled up to him, Lil was laying in front of him, the Private and Chenia at his back.

Slowly he got up and shook the children. “Get up, we need to climb the shaft, soldiers.”

They were down to their last ration bar and the last gulps of water after they had eaten breakfast. Hux changed the Private’s makeshift diapers before he took his greatcoat and drew his blade to cut holes in it.

He could only carry one child at once, he decided to start with Lil. “Lieutenant, climb on my back and put your arms and legs through the holes in the coat. I will carry you up.”

“I don’t want to go first,” she replied with wide eyes. She was clearly scared.

“The Captain will look after the Private, I will carry him next so that you can keep an eye on him.” He crouched down in front of her. “It’s not like going on a mission. We are still together, alright?”

“Promise?”

“I am the General, am I not?” He slid into his coat and lowered it slightly so that she could climb on his back under the coat. He closed the greatcoat as well as it was possible and went to the shaft. “Hold on.”

She grabbed his upper chest hard. He exhaled and tugged at his leather gloves before he grabbed the steel rope and swung into the shaft. Just like the day before he used his feet to give himself stability and started to slowly climb up.

“I’m scared,” whined Lil.

“I’m right here, Lieutenant.” He was surprised how quickly he reached the lift stuck between the levels. His arms were a little tired and he massaged them a little before he continued his way. He was getting tired at the end but he was able to swing on the next level. He sat down and opened the coat, Lil was still clinging to him. Gently he freed himself and pulled the coat back up. “See, everything is fine.”

She still looked scared but she nodded.

“I’ll go back down and get the Private, wait here and stay away from the ledge.”

He lowered himself back on the other level. Chenia helped put the boy on Hux’s back, Hux buttoned the coat back up and used his uniform belt to fasten the coat further. The Private didn’t seem to like it and wiggled uneasy. Best to get him up as fast as possible.

He noticed right away that he tired faster than before, his arms and hands were hurting from the exertion when he reached the lift. Hux massaged his hands and arms and rolled his shoulder back before he grabbed the rope again.

The last bit was hard, making him grit his teeth until he had finally reached the next level. Lil was sitting right at the shaft, holding her knees. She perked up when he appeared and grabbed his arm as if she could pull him into safety.

Hux was panting and the Private started to fuss. He loosened the belt and made sure to let the boy down softly.

“Okay, now I’ll get Che- the Captain. You are in charge of the Private, Lieutenant.”

He took a few deep breaths and climbed back down. Stars, if only he was in better shape. Perhaps he would have to take a break before he climbed up again.

When he arrived in the lower level he sat down and wiped over his face.

“Are you alright, General?”

“I am, Captain. I just need to catch my breath.”

“I can climb up by myself,” she said. “You don’t have to carry me like a baby.”

He scanned her with his eyes, she was certainly bold but she was rather skinny. She could certainly make it to the officers academy. For a moment, he tried to picture her as one of the cadets that served on the flagships but it felt off. He wiped again over his face. “I appreciate your offer, Captain. But as your commanding officer it’s my duty to provide you with transport. You need to save your strength for a later time.”

“But-”

“You have your orders,” said Hux gently. He crouched down and lowered his coat. She climbed on his back and put her hands and legs through the holes of the coat.

He went back to the shaft, rolled his shoulder back and took the rope. He noticed right away when he swung in that he would barely make it to the lift. Kriff! He should have waited longer. He gritted his teeth and moved up, getting slower and slower. He was relieved when they finally reached the lift. He made an effort to hide how exhausted he was and tried to control his breathing.

“You are almost here!” rang out a voice above him.

He looked up and saw Lil peeking over the edge of the shaft.

“We are, get back and look after the Private,” Hux said. Just when he wanted to add that he needed a break, a deep rumble could be heard beneath them. Mud and dust rippled down on them as the earth shook. The lift stuttered starboard, making Chenia gasp in terror.

Hux breath faltered - they would fall! He jumped up and grabbed the rope just in time before another quake occurred, lowering the lift further down. He jumped off and banged at the wall, it was enough for the lift to become unstuck and fall downwards, jerking Hux’s and Chenia’s cable up.

He gritted his teeth and grabbed the ledge of the shaft as it came into reach, his gloved fingers buried themselves into the muddy ground, he could feel himself slipping. His eyes went wide - kriff! He would fall!

“Lil! Lil! Take Chenia!” he yelled as he watched in horror as his fingers couldn’t find halt in the muddy ground.

“General!” shrieked Lil and grabbed him by his arm, trying to pull him up. It was hopeless of course, he was way too heavy! He would pull both children with him down into the shaft!

No! No! Not like this. He grit his teeth so hard that they hurt and grabbed the ledge of the shaft that was made of slippery old wood. He clawed at the wood until he found an angle that was holding and started to pull himself up, centimeter by centimeter. His arms felt like they would break, his muscles like they would rip as hot pain shot through them.

Not! Like! This!

Eventually he managed to heave himself over the abyss and collapsed on the ground, he tasted blood in his mouth. Had he bitten himself? He couldn’t remember.

The next thing he knew was that Lil hugged him, sobbing loudly. Snot and tears were wetting his face. He wanted to get up but his limbs didn’t obey him. Chenia managed to wiggle free and she and Lil both tried to pull him farther away from the lift shaft, unable to move him.

After what felt like an eternity, he managed to prop himself up and took a deep breath. “At ease, soldiers,” he mumbled. “I’m- I’m fine.”

The girls calmed down and wiped over their faces. Hux frowned - where was the Private? To his relief he saw the boy sucking his thumb just a few meters away. His pulse slowed down a bit, only to sped up again when another deep rumble and a slight earthquake could be heard.

He grabbed his flashlight and searched the floor for footprints and after a few seconds of frantic searching he noticed a set of boot prints heading in the left tunnel. He staggered on his feet and took the toddler, even though his arms hurt, and ushered the girls down the tunnel.


	5. A Shimmer of Hope

Sweat was running down his back; his heart was hammering against his chest when he finally slowed down. He put the boy down and let himself fall on the ground - stars he was so hot, his greatcoat felt heavy and constricting. He shrugged it off and enjoyed the cool air on his sweat drenched uniform jacket.

The Private started fussing and Hux could see tears forming in his eyes. Oh no. Before he could even utter a word the boy started to cry, thick tears ran down his cheeks, his face scrunched up. A quick look at the girls revealed that they were also on the brink of tears, pulling up their noses. Lil was holding the hem of her dress in a tight grip as if it could give her halt. Chenia was wiping her eyes with her sleeve.

_‘You weak snivelling-’_

“It’s- it’s alright,” he said, still out of breath. “We are safe now.” After a moment of hesitation he took the Private into his arms, holding him as the boy cried. He remembered that he had seen, on Rigel V, a mother who had patted her child's back when it was upset. He mirrored the gesture. The girls also came to hug him, sobbing and weeping. He put his other arm around them.

He was overwhelmed, would they stop on their own? His father had usually left once he had been finished with him as far as he remembered. He dimly remembered that he had wished that somebody would tell him that he wasn’t weak and stupid.

The children were still crying. He gulped. “There was once a boy, a sickly, weak boy.” He halted, insecure in how to continue.

Chenia sniffled. “Was he a prince?”

Hux noticed that Lil was also looking up to him, eyes red from crying. Well, it was a start. He continued: “No… no he was the son of a kitchen maid. He was a little slower and smaller than the other children in- in the castle. The king was a strong and powerful ruler, he was looking for fierce knights for his army.”

He continued stroking the Private’s back. He was still sobbing but it was quieter than before.

“The boy wanted to become a knight, so he worked very hard because he was skinnier and not as smart at the other boys and girls. The king held tournaments to see which child would brave enough to fight his enemi- to fight the dangerous dragons that ravaged his kingdom.”

They had stopped crying, and were looking at him with unveiled curiosity, mouths hanging open.

“The first test was to make it through a hurdle race with a full glass of wine. Not one drop should be spilled. When it was the boy’s turn, he went over the first few hurdles, because he had worked so hard he got through until the last hurdle. His weak arms and legs began to hurt and he fell over his own feet. He smacked on the floor, not only spilling the wine but also breaking the glass.”

The children gasped.

“The second test was to go into the forest and hunt down the first animal they saw so that the king could hold a feast at the end of the day. The boy took his bow and ventured in the deep dark forest. Then he saw a womp rat, he lifted his bow but then he started to think: ‘A womp rat isn’t an animal a king would like to eat.’ So he lowered the bow and walked on until he spotted a boar. It was a large, dangerous animal but he had heard that boar meat was a fitting meal for a king - so he took aim and shot his arrow at it.”

“Did it die?” interjected Lil.

Hux smiled sadly. “No, it didn’t for the boy’s bow and arrow were too weak against such a large and wild animal. The boar got angry and chased him out of the wood. The boy returned empty-handed to the king whereas the other children had brought him womp rats.”

“Was there a third test?” gasped Chenia, burying her fingers into his sleeve.

“There was a third test. They had to pair up and try to shove each other out of a small circle the king had drawn on the floor. The boy knew that he had to pass the third test after failing the first two, so he thought that he should fight against the largest boy - if he won the king would surely forget about the botched tests. But the boy had forgotten that he was skinny and weak, whereas the other boy was tall, strong and could use magic.”

“That’s unfair!” exclaimed Lil. “How is he supposed to win against a wizard?”

“The boy thought if he could take him by surprise, he could win - a truly formidable victory. But the other boy just grabbed him by his lapels and threw him out of the circle without even breaking a sweat.”

Hux exhaled. “The boy had lost, he went home and cried. Suddenly there was a knock on the door - he opened it, wiping his tears off. To his surprise the king was in front of him, there was so much gold and jewels on his broad chest that it almost blinded him. The king smiled at him and put his large meaty hand on the boy’s shoulder. ‘Why did you leave? Don’t you want to become a knight anymore?’ The boy said: ‘But I didn’t pass any test. All I’ll ever be is the son of a kitchen maid, not a noble knight.’ The king smiled at him and pulled him into a hug. ‘My dear boy, of course you will become a knight - you were bold and tried your best. That’s everything a knight should be. You can’t always win, and you don’t need to.’”

The children stared at him with wide eyes, hanging on his lips. He could feel his heart shrivel and get heavy when he continued the story. “‘You don’t mind that I’m weaker and not so skilled like the others?’ asked the boy, barely believing what the king had told him. ‘Of course I don’t mind,’ the king said, ‘I love all my children. And I will never stop loving you even if you don’t always succeed.’ The king took the boy to the castle and in the evening there was a grand feast where everybody could eat what they wanted.”

Lil clapped her hands and bounced up and down. “Yay! I’m so glad that he became a knight in the end.”

Hux didn’t know why he had told the story like he had. It was non-sense of course - in the real world the boy would have stayed a lowly kitchen boy… or a soldier under the thumb of an irrational space wizard. Well, he just wanted to calm the children down… yes that was it. But why did he feel sad? He was probably just tired.

He pulled out the ration bar and gave three morsels to Chenia so that she could distribute it. Then he took the holo and tried to reach Tico. They were down to their last ration bar and the water was also almost out.

He was relieved when her small figure appeared. “There was an earthquake-”

“I know,” she interrupted. “I’m fine. Apparently so are you. I tried to call you but you didn’t pick up.”

He glanced at the holo and saw that he had five missed calls. “We were busy,” he said slowly. There was no sense in retelling the events within earshot of the children.

“I found the exit,” she said somewhat breathlessly.

“You did?” he blurted out, unable to keep the relief out of his voice.

“I’m backtracking as I speak so that I can help you guys get out of here.” Her tiny figure was walking, clearly she was energized.

He noticed that the children were getting sleepy, yawning and wiping over their eyes despite their best effort to stay awake to listen to Rose. No wonder, it was almost nap time and they must be exhausted after the climb - and everything that followed.

He stepped away, close enough to see them while hopefully far enough lest they couldn’t hear him. “We are almost out of water,” he said in a low voice. “How far is the exit? And did you find a water source?”

She nodded. “I did, I refilled my bottle. My best guess is… eight hours? As mentioned I got lost before I found the right way.”

His breath almost faltered - eight hours! “Excellent.” Then he added: “You must be close to us now.”

“I think so too, but perhaps my sense of orientation is off. Just keep going, we will meet eventually.”

“We will. But the children are exhausted… so am I after that climb.” He lowered his voice. “The earthquake hit when we were climbing so they got scared.” She didn’t need to know that he had been on the verge of panic when he was about to fall into the dark shaft.

“You don’t look so good yourself.”

How in the galaxy could she see that through the holo? And why did she care? “I- I’m fine.”

She smiled, the very sight was so surprising that he almost gaped at her. How- Why was she smiling?

“Cut the bantha-shit, Hux. The ration bars should have run out yesterday. You didn’t eat any of it, did you?”

“I ate a small bite,” he said defensively.

“There really is some humanity left in you, isn’t there?”

“That’s just sentimental drivel.”

“I get it from a psychological point, I mean there is a difference to pulling a trigger to blow ships out of the sky and letting children go hungry.”

He exhaled. He really shouldn’t try to pretend - she saw right through him anyway. “Alright, I admit that I restrained from eating too much of the ration bars.”

“Why can’t you just admit it? I mean… it’s a good thing.”

Hux wiped over his eyes, he was exhausted. “I don’t know. No, I know… it’s a weakness.” He scoffed. “Ren would exploit it if he knew… perhaps he even knows. One can never know with these Force-users.”

“Not all of them can read minds.”

“Perhaps not, but Snoke could.”

She shrugged. “It didn’t save him, did it - he wasn’t a good mind-reader then.”

The quip came so unexpected that he chuckled. There was something liberating about hearing somebody talking in disregard about the man who had thrown him against walls on a whim. “Probably not.”

“Heh, didn’t think you would actually laugh.”

“If I weren’t on duty I would even allow myself a hearty laugh but for now you have to settle for a chuckle,” he quipped.

She laughed a little. “Stars, I’m hallucinating, I think you just made a joke.”

He watched her continuing to walk; he was feeling energized. “You said that you are a mechanic. Where did you learn your profession?” He admitted that he was curious about her.

“Hays Minor.”

“Ah.” The Order had razed the planet, so that was the reason why she had joined the rebels.

She cleared her throat. “What about you? Does the Order have an Engineering corps?”

“We have, but I was taught in the academy. There are tests to determine one’s skill set and I scored highest in the engineering section.”

“Huh, and what was your second-highest score?”

The question took him by surprise. “I- long-range combat.”

“Sniper? That means you are a good shot then.”

He shrugged. “I haven’t trained in a long time but I used to be a good marksman, yes.”

“I’m shit with a blaster to be honest, but then again… I’m a mechanic, there is really no need to be good.”

“How did you determine what profession you would learn?”

She wiped across her face. “Trial and error. When I was a little girl I wanted to become a miner just like my parents, but as I grew older I realised that it was a shit job so I wanted to become a baker - mostly because I like to eat cakes myself to be honest.”

He couldn’t help but smile at that statement. “That doesn’t sound like you could make a living out of it.”

“Nah, I would have been fine - I even worked for a couple of years at a bakery. But I always had this fascination for engines. And when old Jke had an opening in his repair shop I went for it.”

Fascinating! He had never thought about how the rest of the galaxy did decide what they would work. The thought had never even crossed his mind. “What kind of repair shop was it?”

She laughed. “Stars, are you really interested? I mean… it was just a regular repair shop - you know, where people bring their everyday items to get them fixed. Mostly droids, from time to time, their pads, rarely complex repair jobs. That’s why I changed jobs after two years. It was a bit boring after a while.”

It was odd, talking to her like this. But it- it was nice. It was nice hearing her laugh. He didn’t know why. Perhaps it was because he was exhausted.

“Did you ever work on propulsion systems?” he asked.

“Nope, not really. It’s too boring.”

“I agree, propulsion is fairly simple compared to other challenges. I personally like shielding, the intricacies of adjusting the right frequency is interesting to calculate.”

“That’s true. I once had to fix a multi-layered UB-shield for one of our x-wings-” she broke off, slowing down her step.

He realised that they had been talking for about ten minutes as if- as if they weren’t enemies. She must have registered it too.

“I think I should conserve the energy of my holocom,” she said. “See you, Hux.”

“Good bye, Sergeant Tico.”

Her tiny figure disappeared and without the blue light the darkness surrounded Hux again. He was tired but at the same time he regretted that they didn’t talk anymore. What an interesting woman, he would never have thought that someone like this could be among the Rebel scum.

She was nice and it was interesting talking to her. Sergeant Tico was so unlike anyone he had talked with in the past few years: candid, funny and- He pressed his lips together. No, she was scum, he would do good to remember that.

He should get some sleep, that should get rid of this silly notion that she was interesting.

When his chrono beeped to wake him up from the nap he felt completely drained, his arms also seemed to hurt more than before. He took a small gulp of water and woke the children up.

They were readying themselves to march on, the girls were yawning and rubbing their eyes, the Private on the other hand was alert, he was focused on the ground, collecting pebbles. Hux crouched down next to him. He should keep the stimulus up.

“Collecting more samples, Private?”

The boy handed him one of the pebbles, he stared at Hux with big eyes, mouth hanging slightly open.

“Thank you for this… gneis, Private.”

The boy squatted down, grabbed a handful of pebbles and poured them onto Hux’s open palm.

“Ah, more material - I salute your enthusiasm, Private. This will certainly help to do a proper empirical study of the geology of Crait.”

The boy beamed at him and Hux gulped. The Private was making good progress, if only he could get him to behave like that during the initial testing at the academy. He made an effort to smile back. He shouldn’t worry, the boy had a robust constitution. Yes, it was no question that he would make the cut - like the girls would.

Hux groaned a little when he lifted the Private up, his arms ached. The boy mumbled something, it sounded like “up”.

“What was that Private?”

“Tup.”

Was he trying to say his name? Or was it more that he said “up” because he was lifted up? Well, either way they had to go on.

As they walked, Hux noticed that Chenia and Lil were unusually quiet. They liked telling him about their lives and their parents but now they were silently walking beside him.

“Are you tired, Captain?”

“No… I just miss my dad.”

Well, she certainly would forget him soon enough once she was in the programme. “You have your squad right here.”

“I know, but I still miss him.” Then a lot quieter. “I hope he is okay.”

“Was he on the _Raddus_?”

“Yes, we were evacuated from D’Qar. He was supposed to fix the propulsion on the ship. They sent me down on the planet we’re on with the Nautolans.” She looked at him with a frown. “Rose said that he was safe but I don’t know how she could know. If he were on the planet he would have found me by now, wouldn’t he?”

Hux didn’t know what to say. There was a high possibility that he had been taken captive or that had been killed.

Chenia sniffled, she wiped her eyes with her hands. “He is alright, isn’t he?” she asked while trying in vain to hide that she was crying.

“Of course he is,” he lied smoothly. There was an odd feeling in his stomach. He hadn’t lied because he wanted her to keep quiet, he discovered. He just wanted her to be her chipper, bold self.

Stars, he really was growing weak. Even forming attachments with these cadets. That’s what they were after all - future cadets.

Just as he was about to inquire about Lil, he saw a flashing light in the distance of the dark tunnel.

“Tup,” said the toddler in a very, very quiet voice.

Hux glanced at him, tears were running down his cheeks and he was completely still. “..ut up.”

Hux’s eyes went wide. The boy hadn’t commented on being lifted up, he was saying ‘shut up’, over and over again.


	6. Into the Light

Hux tore his eyes away from the boy and stared again at the light before him. There was little doubt in Hux’s mind that it was Tico. Who else was stumbling through the tunnels? But he hadn’t survived this long by relying on assumptions… besides - if it was her, there was a high possibility that she would try to overwhelm him.

“Captain, Lieutenant - take the Private and lay low,” he whispered and put the toddler down, despite the body clinging to his labels. He reached down to his blaster and slowly pulled it out.

“Halt, identify yourself!” he said loudly.

If he shot now he could claim that he thought that it was somebody else than Tico, the children wouldn’t question his actions…

He should shoot the rebel, right here and now. And yet he hesitated.

“It’s me - Rose Tico,” a voice rang out.

He exhaled and lowered his weapon. He just couldn’t pull the trigger. It would have been a waste anyway. Yes, she would be a valuable source of information about the Rebels. It didn’t matter that they were all but finished after the last battle. He had to be diligent.

“Rose!” The girls jumped up and ran towards her, leaving the Private with Hux. He put the weapon away and crouched down to the boy who was still crying silently, panting slightly.

“It’s just Sergeant Tico, Private,” Hux said in what he hoped was a reassuring voice. He reached inside the pocket of his greatcoat and took out one of the stones the Private had given him a while back. “Here,” he gave the stone to the boy, “come on, Private. I need your expertise on this gneiss.”

The Private took the stone and pressed it against his chest. Hux lifted him up and slowly walked towards Tico and the girls who were talking to each other. Tico was busy hugging the children, she had dark bags under her eyes when she looked up and glared at Hux.

Hux lifted his chin and scanned her for weapons, he couldn’t see any. Had she hidden one somewhere? It would certainly make sense, she couldn’t take him head on with the cadets in the way.

Well, he was ready - his hidden blade up his sleeve would surprise her when she tried to kill him. She would probably focus on his blaster and try to get it away from him, and try to shoot him with it - after all she wouldn’t stand a chance in a physical fight considering her short height.

“Sergeant Tico, how good of you to join us,” he said in an icy voice. Best to establish his superiori-

“There you are!” she beamed.

Seeing her smile up close made his breath falter. So open, beautiful-

Tico reached out and took the Private out of his arms, laughing and lifting the boy up in the air. “I swear you have grown since I last saw you!”

The Private stared at her with big eyes, still holding the stone in his tiny hands. She took him in her left arm and wiped his tears with her thumb away, giving him a kiss on the forehead. “Don’t worry, honey. I’m here now.”

Hux pressed his lips together. Silly. Letting himself get distracted by her smile, a smile nonetheless that wasn’t even meant for him.

He cleared his throat. “We should get going.”

She put the boy down and reached into her cargo pants, Hux casually reached for his hidden blade - he was ready for any att-

“Here, fresh water,” she said and produced a bottle with a clear liquid.

Stars! His throat was parched. He took the bottle and hesitated; it was the perfect trap to poison him. “Perhaps the cad- children should drink first,” he said slowly while observing her reaction.

“Of course, but they didn’t seem to be thirsty.”

He cleared his throat. “Captain, Lieutenant - are you thirsty?”

The girls nodded and Hux handed them the bottle. They handed it back and Hux helped the Private to drink while Tico was holding him. Then he wiped over the opening of the bottle and took two big gulps, the water was not cool but it was refreshing nonetheless. His throat was so dry that the gulping burned. Only after he finished and wiped over his mouth he noticed that his lips were rough and dry.

“Where did you find the water?” he asked and allowed himself another gulp.

“There was an abandoned post, two bottles were hidden away in a closet.”

He wiped again over the opening and screwed the lid shut. Tico put the Private down and put the bottle back in her cargo pants.

The boy sat down and took a stone - he had probably lost the one he had held onto moments ago. He looked from Tico to Hux and laboriously got up to bring the stone to Hux.

He hesitated, Tico already knew that he was weak, if saw him being- then he saw the Private’s big brown eyes looking at him expectantly. Hux crouched down and presented his palm, the boy put the stone in it and watched him with mouth agape.

“Thank you, Private. It is indeed noteworthy that the gneiss has a different composition than the ones in the lower level.” He stared at the stone, it was covered in red dust and was completely unremarkable. “The sediments seem to be the same, but I assume that a spectral scan would reveal that this stone is much younger than the other examples you collected.” He put the stone in his pocket and lifted the boy up.

He cleared his throat. “We should get going, Sergeant Tico.” He glanced at her, expecting her to flash a knowing smirk, a sign of scorn but to his surprise she just looked taken aback.

“Captain, please take the flashlight and light the way,” he said in a calm voice. With Tico’s flashlight, the way was illuminated enough so that he didn’t need to carry it himself anymore.

The girls walked ahead, giving Tico and Hux the opportunity to talk.

“What’s with the ranks?” she asked.

He shrugged. “I needed to implement a structure and distract them from the situation. And I have only experience in leading soldiers - so I improvised.”

“And seeing as you want to put them into the Stormtrooper programme you could teach them to obey orders as soldiers,” she said quietly.

“E-exactly.”

“So, what purpose is there in collecting pebbles for a toddler? You plan to put him in the geology unit or something like that?”

Why was she always asking such complicated questions? He didn’t know what to say and remained silent. What was the point of her questions anyway?

“Nothing to say?”

“I don’t understand your need to talk about plain and simple actions.”

“Plain and simple, huh?”

“Yet again you doubt my ability to adapt to a situation. You still think that all First Order personnel are bound to be needlessly cruel,” he retorted. “I didn’t come this far by-” he broke off. Why was he even talking to her? _Because she is interesting,_ supplied an unhelpful little voice in his mind. _Because she sees through you._

She was silent for a moment, then she said “Do you want me to take him?”

Hux shook his head. “I’m not tired yet.”

About an hour later, they took a break. Hux checked his chronometer and noticed that it was already late.

“How far is it to the exit, Sergeant?”

“My sense of time is off, but I would guess another five hours?”

“It’s well past midnight, I suggest that we take a break and continue in six hours.”

“Alright, why not? If it takes longer we’ll at least be rested.” She called out to the girls. “Chenia, Lil, wait. We'll pitch camp here and sleep a little.”

The Captain and the Lieutenant returned to them and sat down on the floor. Lil yawned and rubbed her eyes. Hux put the Private down and reached into his pocket for the ration bar. His fingers brushed against Sergeant Tico’s pendant. He distributed pieces of the last ration bar.

After a moment of reflection, he handed the pendant back to Sergeant Tico.

“I didn’t think that you still had it,” she said and put it around her neck.

He noticed how she caressed the silver surface with her fingertips. It seemed to mean a lot to her.

“I’m hungry,” said Lil. “When will we get out of here? I want Auntie Niv.”

Tico petted her head. “Only a couple of hours more, alright? Then we can drink and eat as much as we want.”

“Can you tell us another story, General?” asked Chenia.

“I’m certain Sergeant Tico can tell a better story than I,” he said and waved off.

“Tell us a story, Rose,” said Lil and clapped with her hands while she bounced up and down.

Tico shifted a little. “Uh, okay, I’ll try.”

“Yay!” Chenia came closer and sat down beside Tico, leaning against her. The Private followed her example and crawled on Tico’s lap. Hux exhaled and leaned against the wall, closing his eyes for a moment. His eyes snapped again open when Lil settled next to him and lifted his greatcoat to cover herself with it.

Tico cleared her throat. “Once upon a time there were two girls, they were sisters and they loved each other very much.”

“Were they pretty?” interjected Lil.

“One of the sisters was funny, a great rider and very, very pretty. The other, younger sister was smart and uh, well, she was smart.”

“Were they princesses?” asked Chenia.

Tico shook her head. “No, they were just ordinary girls. Their parents had to work so they were left alone at home. The older sister was bored and wanted to go on an adventure, she had heard that there were … dragons in the mountains.”

The children were now listening with rapt attention.

“The younger sister was scared and said: ‘Don’t go there, Pei-Pei. Dragons are dangerous, they will burn you with their hot breath and hurt you with their sharp claws.’ But Pei-Pei didn’t listen to her sister and started to pack her rucksack. The younger sister watched her, she was smart enough to know that it was dangerous but not smart enough to know how to stop her headstrong sister.”

Hux noticed a slight tremble in Tico’s voice, Lil shifted a little and leaned against him.

“Pei-Pei set out to go into the mountains, but her sister eventually caught up to her,” continued Tico. “‘Why are you here?’ asked Pei-Pei, “I thought you were scared of dragons.’ ‘I am’, replied her younger sister, ‘but it’s too dangerous for you to go alone. I’ll come along, we are safer together.’ And so they continued their way high up into the mountains.”

Tico’s eyes seemed moist now. Hux realised that it made him uncomfortable… seeing her like this.

“The way to the mountaintop was hard, and as they came closer to the dragon’s lair they noticed burnt trees, trampled bushes and dead cattle, slaughtered by the dragon. The younger sister saw that the dragon was even more dangerous than she had thought. ‘Let’s go back, Pei-Pei,’ she begged. ‘It is too dangerous.’ Her sister only laughed. ‘What is the point of an adventure if it isn’t scary? And don’t you see the damage the dragons inflicts? We need to slay him.’”

Hux realised that he too was captivated by the story. Beside him, Lil pulled up the hem of his greatcoat to cover part of her face, almost as if she was hiding.

“They found the lair and ventured in, the walls were black from soot, the air was hot and sticky. Pei-Pei took the lead and crept closer and closer to the center of the lair. There they found the big, black dragon - it had dark scales that seemed to swallow all light, all hope. It had blood-red fiery eyes that shone in the darkness like two burning suns.”

Chenia now looked scared, sitting completely still on Tico’s lap, the Private was sucking his thumb, staring at Tico with big, glassy eyes. Lil had turned and pressed her face against his ribcage. Instinctively, he put his arm around her.

“Pei-Pei reached into her rucksack and pulled a slingshot out of it. Her sister said: ‘You can’t hurt it with a slingshot - look how big and scary it is!’ Pei-Pei smiled and said: ‘I won’t shoot at it’s body but at it’s eyes, if it’s blind it can’t hunt anymore and we will be safe - and the animals and trees will be safe too.’ ‘But what if you miss?’ asked the younger sister with a trembling voice. The beautiful, strong Pei-Pei smiled. ‘I won’t miss, I never do.’”

The children were now hanging at her lips, mouths agape, hands clenched to fists.

“Pei-Pei took a small, sharp rock and aimed her slingshot at the right eye of the dragon. She pulled the elastic band so far back that it creaked. She let go and the rock hurled itself into the dragon’s eye, the beast roared and screamed. The whole lair trembled before its fury. ‘Who dares to lay a hand on the mighty dragon?’ it howled. ‘Show yourself if you’re not a coward! Show yourself and bow before me and I might spare you!’ Pei-Pei stepped forward, her slighshot ready for the second shot. She lifted her chin high and said: ‘My name is Pei-Pei and I came to stop you!’”

“No, she needs to hide”, whispered Lil, she was now completely covered by the greatcoat.

“The dragon laughed. ‘You fool! You are just like every hero before - brave and stupid. Now that I can see you, I’ll burn you to a crisp.’ It took a deep breath, it’s black belly becoming red and hot with fire. Pei-Pei realised that she hadn’t thought about the fire, hadn’t thought about the dragon striking back. She knew that she had to act before the dragon could spit fire and raised her slingshot to take out the other eye.”

Tico blinked a few times. “She pulled the rubber band back with all her might, and in the very moment that the dragon spewed fire she let go. The stone hurled through the air, through the dragon’s fire and hit its mark. Pei-Pei was about to be hit by the fire but her younger, smart sister had hastily made a shield built out of burnt wood and bones of the cattle outside. She boldly threw herself between the dragon and her sister, deflecting the fire with the shield. Then she grabbed her sister's hand and they ran out of the lair as the dragon raged and howled behind them.”

The children gasped and Lil peeked out of the greatcoat.

“Together, they returned to their home; they had trapped the dragon in the lair because without his eyesight he could never find the exit. The animals and the plants were safe again - all thanks to the two sisters.”

Chenia beamed. “They made it! They won!”

Tico blinked again and petted her head. “Of course they won, the good guys always win.”

Hux shrugged his greatcoat off and put it on the floor, Tico watched with some surprise how the children crawled on it before he folded it to cover them.

“Are you not sleeping, General?” asked Chenia.

“Of course, Captain,” he said. Then he gestured towards the Sergeant. “I will stay over here, perhaps you can join them on the other side.” He didn’t need to say it - that way she could keep her distance from him.

She nodded. “Agreed.”

Tico went over to the children and lay down next to them. Hux settled down on the other side of the tunnel. He wanted to stay awake to observe the Sergeant, this was a prime opportunity for her to kill him. He watched the children and her fall asleep, soon soft breaths could be heard. He was feeling tired too and after a while he gave up and fell asleep too.

The chronometer beeped and he jerked up, reaching for his weapon while activating his flashlight to scan the tunnel for Tico. He saw that she was still laying on the other side of the tunnel, sitting up slowly while wiping her face.

Only now he realised that the Private was sleeping in front of him. He couldn’t help but smile a little as he saw the toddler yawning. He sat up and stretched his back.

Then he checked the Private’s makeshift diapers and discovered that he needed to change them.

“Sergeant, do you have some cloth we could use as a diaper?”

Tico stepped closer and pulled a rag out of her cargo pants. Hux took it and wiped the Private with the last of his shimmer silk handkerchiefs clean before throwing it and the old diaper away. Then he wrapped the new cloth around the boy and pulled the boy’s pants back up.

They started walking, the girls again up front with a flashlight.

“I didn’t even think to change his diapers,” Tico said after a while. “Thank you for taking care of him like you did.”

“It’s nothing, I just didn’t want to hear his whining,” he replied.

She glanced at him from the side. “You really care about the children, don’t you? I mean… you are kind to them.”

He didn’t like the topic, it was bound to expose his weaknesses even further. “I just wanted them to keep quiet.”

“Why can’t you just admit that they have grown on you? Come on, I have eyes - they like you, children don’t like people if they’re not kind to them.”

He scoffed. “I was just the only adult around, they’re fixated on me for that very reason.”

“Okay, I give up. You are too stubborn.”

Silence settled in between them. His thoughts returned to the captivating story she had told the evening before.

“Did the heroine really survive the encounter with the dragon?” he asked in a low voice.

Now it was her turn to scoff. “Of course not. And the sister didn’t come up with a shield either, perhaps she wasn’t so smart after all.”

He didn’t know what to say to that and remained silent.

After a few steps she spoke up. “I don't celebrate Lifeday anymore.”

“I don’t understand,” he said slowly. “You said-”

“I used to love it, the family coming together…” she trailed off. “There is nobody left but me now. I pretend that I still like it, I even got presents for my friends in the Resistance. But the truth is… it feels hollow. But I guess I thought if I pretended long enough it could give me joy like it used to.”

Why was she telling him this? What an odd thing to say to an enemy.

She sighed. “Do you ever feel this gnawing doubt, this hollow feeling like you are empty, a mere shell of who you are supposed to be?”

He thought about the question for a moment. “Perhaps. There are times where I-” he broke off. “It feels like something is missing. Even after everything I have accomplished, it’s not enough.”

“I guess we’re both lonely in our own way.”

“Perhaps it’s because we are both survivors. Others are more courageous, bolder, but in the end, they lose.”

“We all lose,” she said in a firm voice. “I lost my sister, friends, everybody I ever cared about. And it’s because of you - you and your ilk.” She glared at him. “And you are not even a dragon, just a man. And it really gets to me, you know? Seeing you here - seeing you being a rational human being. Being nice to children who you want to steal away to become soldiers.” She exhaled. “It would be so much easier if you were just a dragon.”

“I thought you wanted me to be human?” he said.

“I did, but I’m exhausted, I just want to rest - I want to close my eyes and sleep. I don’t want to wake up again because we lost, everything is lost. But seeing that even you can be compassionate forces me to go on.” She licked her dry lips. “I can’t give up, even if I lack the strength to do so. Because there is still hope.”

He frowned. “I don’t understand.”

“I can see you clearly, Hux. There is still good in you - even after everything you did. You can still do the right thing, you can still make sure that the children don’t have to die in a pointless war.” She put her hand on his arm and the touch made him flinch, the warm sensation startled him and he took a step back, pressing the Private closer to him.

“Don’t touch me,” he whispered.

She pulled her hand back. “Why not?”

He stared at her, how could her touch be so warm - even through the fabric of his coat, his uniform jacket? How could she even stand to touch him? He realised that he was holding the Private very close to himself; the toddler radiated the same warmth as she did. Just like the children when they had slept next to him.

A warmth that almost burned him, a warmth that reminded him of something he could never have. And the way Tico looked at him, not with disdain, disgust and despair but like she really _saw_ him.

“You are mistaken,” he pressed out.

She looked at him with a hurt expression on her face. Seeing her like that gave him a stab in the heart but he didn’t know why - perhaps he didn’t like that a strong woman like her showed weakness?

She turned and continued to walk. Hux followed her shortly after.

A couple of hours later they could see a bright light at the end of the tunnel, Hux sucked air in. This was it! It had to be the exit! Finally they could get out of this death-trap!

He also realised that he hadn’t tried to reach anyone with his comm for a while now. He would certainly be able to reach the FO network from here. He glanced at Sergeant Tico who was walking in front of him. He couldn’t just call his troops in front of her, he would wait until they exited and find a quiet spot to make the call. Yes, that was sensible.

As if she could read his mind, she glanced over her shoulder at him. There was determination and fear apparent on her face.

Chenia and Lil got excited and were about to run off, when Tico called them back. “Stay with us, girls!”

They jumped up and down and ran back to Tico and Hux.

“I’ll eat so much ice cream when I’m home!” exclaimed Li and tugged at Hux’s sleeve. “Auntie Niv always says that I’m supposed to eat more vegetables but now she will be so happy that I’m back that I can surely eat ice cream for dinner!”

“The nutritional value of ice cream is far below vegetables,” he replied. “I agree with your aunt.”

Chenia took hold of Tico’s arm. “Have you seen my dad, Rose? Will he wait outside for me?”

“Let’s- let’s get out of here first,” replied Tico haltingly.

They continued walking at a fast pace; Hux felt uneasy as they drew nearer to the exit. What was the best move? Should he pull his blaster on Tico? But wouldn’t that scare the children? No, no it didn’t matter what they thought. He was a General of the First Order. He had a duty. He felt Lil tugging at his sleeve and looked down.

“You can have ice cream too, General. I will even give you some of mine.”

He gulped, he had to bring them in. He had a duty as commander to these children, they were his soldiers, weren’t they?

Just when they were about to reach the blinding, bright exit, a dark figure stepped into the light. The girls gasped and Tico stopped in her tracks. Hux straightened his back and could feel his hackles rise. He would know this cape, this mask everywhere - Kylo Ren was standing in front of them.

Ren pulled the lightsaber with one fluent motion from his belt and activated it; the dark tunnel was illuminated by the blood-red light of his blade. The glow also reflected from the silver lining of his mask, painting his face in a dark red light.

“The dragon,” said Lil and grabbed Hux’s hand with all her might. The Private on his arm said “shut up” in his garbled way.

“Supreme Leader,” said Hux calmly, “I take it that you defeated Skywalker?”

A rattling breath could be heard, the sound seemed to bounce from the walls, becoming somehow louder than it was supposed to be. “I almost didn’t recognize you with all that mud on your uniform,” he said with a voice distorted by the vocoder. He put the lightsaber out and stomped towards them. “I see you have captives, General.”

“Yes.”

Ren looked down on the children and then back up at Hux. “You were gone for days, Hux. Some in High Command had hoped that you were dead, but they don’t know you. You are much too cunning and resilient to die on some backwater planet, aren’t you?”

Hux had little doubt that Ren himself would have been glad if he got rid of him. Of course, this was the perfect opportunity to off him. But there was a reason why he kept him in the first place - he needed someone with intimate knowledge of the military structure to help him rule. Yes, Hux was safe, all he had to do was be careful and bend his knee to the man before him. He was a survivor after all. “I live to serve, Supreme Leader.”

Ren tilted his head. “Why are you carrying that disgusting thing, Hux? Hand it to the wretch and join me.”

“Of course, Supreme Leader.”

Hux peeled the tiny hand of the toddler off his labels and handed him carefully over to Tico. She was pale and a thin film of sweat covered her face.

Chenia and Lil stared at him with wide open eyes. He gulped. “Stay with the Sergeant.”

Hux straightened his dirty, crumbled uniform and stepped in front of Ren. He clasped his hands behind his back. “The cadets should be integrated in our Stormtrooper programme, Supreme Leader. I bought them along so that-”

“I’m not interested, Hux. We have to hunt the Rebel scum and eradicate every last of them.”

He wanted to let them go? Against his will, Hux was relieved. It had been harder and harder to convince himself that the Private would make the cut.

“Yes, sir.”

“Now step aside so that I can take care of them.”

He froze. “I- Supreme Leader, they are valuable cadets-”

“We need to kill their offspring too, General.”

Hux grimaced. “Ren, listen to me. We need soldiers and they proved to be resilient. It would be a mistake to waste their lives like that.” Cold fear had taken hold of him, but he suppressed it as well as he could.

To his surprise, Ren started to laugh. It was a raspy bark. “Stars, you are getting soft. Are you really going to tell me that the half-witted boy can be a Stormtrooper? I can even sense it from here that he is damaged goods.” The laughter stopped as suddenly as it had started. “Step aside, Hux.” He ignited his lightsaber again, the humming seemed almost ear-deafening now.

Hux felt a shiver of fear running down his back, but he lifted his chin. “That’s not true, he just lacks stimulation. I assessed-”

An invisible Force threw him against the wall, dust rippled down on him as he slid down the muddy tunnel wall. Breath was knocked out of him and it took him a second to realise what had happened.

He lifted his head in time to see how Ren lifted his hand and clenched it to a fist. The dry sound of bones snapping rang through the tunnel as Chenia went limp and collapsed where she had stood.

“No!” Hux screamed. “Stop!”

Ren lifted his hand again and started to choke Tico, she let go of the Private who fell down on the ground. The toddler started to cry as Tico was slowly being suffocated. Thoughts were racing through Hux’s mind - Ren would kill them! He was unhinged, whatever had happened with Skywalker had clearly sent him over the edge. His every instinct told him to stay put, to lay low so that the madman would spare him.

He had to be smart, he had to survive.

Tico’s stertorous breathing pierced through his thoughts and through his heart. He saw Lil holding the bawling Private, both covered in red mud. Tico clawing at the invisible hands around her neck.

He gritted his teeth and jumped up, in a fraction of a second the monomolecular blade had slid out of his sleeve. He grabbed Ren from behind and drove the sharp, thin blade into his cold dead heart.

Ren screamed and let go of Tico. Hux let himself fall backwards, pulling Ren down with him, using his legs and arms to take him into a chokehold. Ren’s breath started to rattle but with one last push he proved his superior strength and freed his right arm with the lightsaber.

“Traitor,” he panted and drove the weapon into Hux’s leg.

The burning pain was so overwhelming that he let go and almost blacked out. Ren… Ren… he would kill them. He almost lost consciousness, the tunnel growing darker… no, no - not like this! He gritted his teeth and tried to reach his blaster, only to discover that it wasn’t in his holster anymore. Before he could swear a shot rang out and Ren drew his last breath, an uncanny, otherworldly sound thanks to his mask.

He dimly recognized Tico standing over him with his blaster in her hand; tears were streaming down her face.

Suddenly, she was gone and he thought he could hear crying and screaming. The Captain…

The next thing he knew what that he was laying outside, in the bright sun, the white salt blinding him after all the time in the darkness. He had trouble focusing, felt lightheaded. He turned his head to the side and saw Chenia lying next to him, her eyes were closed and she looked oddly peaceful.

“Captain?” he whispered. “Captain?” Then he felt a tug at his leg and looked down. Tico was wrapping clothing around his leg, the burning pain returned and he groaned. There was blood, so much dark red blood on the bright white salt ground.

Tico lifted a bottle with water to his lips and he took a small gulp before starting to cough. His chest felt tight, for some reason it was hard to breath. Almost if a heavy rock was weighing him down.

“You need to lay still, Hux. You lost a lot of blood,” said Tico as she leaned over him. In the warm light of the day she looked even more beautiful than he could ever have imagined. Such a strong, willful woman - how had he not seen it on the _Supremacy_?

“How is- Chenia?” he said in a low voice. He could feel tears forming in his eyes, no doubt from the pain in his leg.

Tico cupped his cheeks and smiled sadly, smiling at him. “Don’t worry, she is fine.” Something wet and warm fell down on his face, it was hard to focus. Everything seemed to be muffled, his thoughts were slow and sluggish… was it rain? “Chenia is fine,” Tico repeated with a throaty voice. “You are going to be fine too.”

“And the Lieutenant and the Private?” his own voice was so quiet that he wasn’t sure if she had heard him.

Lil’s face appeared above him, she was crying. Tico lifted the Private so that he could see him, the boy was holding a flat salt rock. The toddler reached out, presenting Hux the stone. Hux used the last bit of his strength to take the stone. “Thank you, Private,” he mumbled.

He felt tired, his eyes started to fall shut. The last thing he felt was Sergeant Tico’s hand on his face, caressing him.

The stone fell out of his hand as he drew his last breath.

_The End_


End file.
